One Big Uzumaki Family
by John Smith
Summary: A set of drabbles revolving around Naruto, Sakura, and their children. It turns out that, when the war ends, these two get busy. Real busy.
1. Stealing First

**Update 12/13/14: If you are interested in reading this drabble story chronologically rather than in the posted order, please skip to the bottom of this page to see a chronologically organized list of all the chapters/arcs. For your convenience, I will paste it onto the bottom of each chapter so you can reference it whenever needed.** I won't lie, as the biased author I don't think I can recommend reading it any other way than it was posted (at least for the first time), but a few people have expressed interest in reading it in that order or at least seeing how the chapters follow one another, so please enjoy it however you'd like!

—

So this fic is part of a tumblr-based NaruSaku Month celebration I'm partaking in for October 2014. I realized that I have about 20,000 headcanons for Naruto, Sakura, and their future family, so I wanted to begin writing them out. This set of drabbles will _not _be in chronological order, will have a lot of different genres (although mostly humor/family), and will focus on concepts ranging from silly baby situations to psychological commentaries. I don't plan on adding in many ships other than NaruSaku and (briefly, in this first chapter) some ShinoHana (I ship it for the Kiba lols). I'll update this if I end up adding more ships.

I hope you enjoy the read—and PLEASE suggest some family/kid/marriage/etc. prompts if you want to. I still need plenty of ideas to keep this train rolling for 31 days. Thanks, and let me know what you think!

* * *

><p>Shino bowed, his head dipped so that his wife could brush her fingers through his hair and plant a gentle kiss on his forehead. He raised his gaze back to hers, though her fingers continued to knit through his hair. In quiet tones, he spoke.<p>

"I would rather wait for you. Why? It is your announcement as well." Hana smiled at his concern.

"But they're your friends, Lovebug. And you never get to enjoy some time in the spotlight, do you? Go on and be the heart of the party." She smiled at him again as she spoke, the clan markings on her cheeks rising up cheerfully. One of her triplet dogs nudged his nose under her wrist, demanding to be pet.

It seemed to all around them that this particular Aburame-Inuzuka match up was odd, but Shino felt the depth of his connection to Hana constantly, and now was no exception. She had always understood and nurtured his modest desire for recognition.

"I will schedule a different occasion then for when you are more well. Why? We are married. This is our announcement. It is not mine to make alone." He was adamant, and Hana was reminded of every little thing she loved about this chivalrous, virtuous man. First of all, he was so terribly unlike the rough and tumble Inuzuka she'd grown up with—although she loved them dearly, she had never quite been one of them. She was gentle, and she wanted a man with strength that came from gentility as well. And that was Shino. She heaved a pleasant but exhausted sigh.

"Fine, I'll go. Just for the announcement though. I don't know if I can smell all that food for long without, you know."

—

Shino's peers and friends from Konoha had gathered around the dining table in the Inuzuka compound. It was a comfortable, wide space that accommodated them all easily. He stepped into the room with one hand in his pocket, the other clasped around Hana's, and quietly assessed how the meal was going. Being late to his own party was perhaps uncouth, but it suited him just fine. The Haimaru Brothers ambled in then, tails wagging at Akamaru and the others. It was in this silence that Hana stole her last argument in.

"You get to say it, though," she said it quietly and then took her seat at the head of the table so that he could not debate with her.

"Hey Hana. Hey _Hana's husband_." Kiba said, head turned away and voice filled with petulant disdain. He still hadn't gotten over Shino's relationship with his sister. He probably never would, Shino and Hana thought simultaneously, though there was no need for a psychic link to make that happen.

Even his long-time team mate's attitude wouldn't get Shino down on a wonderful night like tonight. Tonight, the night upon which he would claim a special place among all his peers. He was to be the first of all the genin of their class to reach this next great milestone. He was pleased to see that the attention of all present had turned toward him, and he prepared to make the great announcement.

—

Sakura was picking at her food a bit unhappily. She hadn't been enjoying eating lately, and usually when that happened, it was all due to stress. But try as she might, she couldn't quite peg what was creating her anxiety this time. There were the usual perpetrators, sure, but nothing more than the norm. She frowned, pushing some rice over on her plate and wondering why everything was making her feel slightly nauseated tonight.

She glanced up at Naruto, who was sitting next to her and had suddenly looked up at the door. It didn't surprise her that Shino and Hana's chakra became known to her soon afterward, approaching. They stepped in moments later. Naruto's sensory capabilities had become infuriatingly meticulous ever since he'd made peace with Kurama. And then he did something that infuriated her even more. He tilted his head curiously at the two, eyes slitted in confusion.

He'd been doing that a lot to Sakura the past few weeks.

The most bothersome part about it was that he _wasn't _hiding something. He was genuinely confused. And no matter how many times she asked him why he was looking at her like she had something stuck to her face, all he could ever say was that something "was weird" and could not explain further despite trying. She had no idea what it meant. Even just _thinking _about it was setting her off now, and this was supposed to be a nice dinner amongst friends who could rarely make the time to all get together.

That thought brought her to unintentionally snap her chopsticks in half, and Naruto turned in shock, his face scrawled with inherent knowledge that she was mad at _him._ For some reason, that brought her a morbid sense of satisfaction, and her anger was curbed. For now.

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" He asked her in his version of a whisper. Which meant that, if it weren't for the table being rife with voices, everyone would have heard him.

"Nothing. Just... nothing." She said with a firm shake of her head, finishing just in time for Shino to stand from his conversations with those close to him and raise his hands to garner attention.

"Hana and I would like to make an announcement. Why? Because we have achieved something great." Naruto gripped the table in suspense, and while Sakura and some others could see where this was going, he remained the picture of excitement. Kiba, on the other hand, had become very pale and appeared frozen in apprehension. Sakura would have very much doubted that _he_ would expect what might be coming, but perhaps she was wrong. He was even beginning to sweat.

Next to Shino, Hana was smiling serenely, one hand gingerly holding her husband's as she stood beside him. Gently, she placed the other hand onto her stomach. That said everything. Sakura's expression bloomed into a warm smile, and the two women shared it briefly across the table before Shino continued.

"Hana and I will be having our first child in approximately thirty-five weeks." He stated. There was a short moment of absolute silent shock, then everyone cheered in excitement.

"Congratulations!" Sakura called above the din, her earlier mood swings all but forgotten. Naruto had jumped up with a whoop, bounded across the room, and was clapping Shino on the shoulder proudly. Kiba didn't seem fully conscious anymore, though he was still sitting upright, his long nails digging deep into the wood of the table. The moment of celebration lasted all but two minutes—because the moment Naruto crouched to place his head against Hana's stomach, much to both she and Shino's discomfort, he shot up again, eyes wide.

"EEEEEHHHHHHH!?" His voice crashed over the room suddenly, silencing everyone and leaving Hana, right next to him, with her hands clapped over her ears. "IS _THAT_ WHAT THAT MEANS!?"

"Naruto! What are you _doing_!?" Sakura rolled a sleeve up, her rage swiftly rising beyond what any words could express. The killing intent was coming off her in waves. He didn't seem to notice, staring at her in shock. The others could only remain in a curious silence, watching as Naruto raised his hands to clench fists into his hair, his gaping expression somehow becoming more pronounced by the second.

Then, before Sakura could get up and punch his face into his throat, he planted a foot on the table, directly next to Hana's dinner plate, and pointed straight at her.

"Sakura-chan, _Sakura-chan! _The weird—the chakra thing! It's a baby! You—we—WE'RE HAVING A BABY!"

Sakura was slowly rising as he continued to scream like a maniac, but that was all she remembered. Because, although his words felt just like nonsense to her—she even got a chance to quietly repeat them, as though to prove they were gibberish and didn't even constitute an actual sentence—she could feel her blood pressure dropping rapidly.

And that was how Sakura fainted upon finding out that she was going to be a mother.

Not so coincidentally, it was also how Naruto fainted shortly thereafter, upon _actually realizing _he was going to be a father.

It just so happened to also be how Shino and Hana's party, spotlight, attention, and exciting news all became a not-so-evenly shared occassion.

And finally, it was how Shino discovered that a certain pair of Uzumakis had managed to one-up their peers yet again by conceiving a child roughly one week before a certain pair of Aburames did. Which then made them the first of any of the Konoha 12 to become parents.

* * *

><p><strong>Chronological ArcChapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)<br>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)  
>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)<br>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)  
>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)<br>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)  
>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)<br>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	2. The Day Kakashi Tried

Thanks for all the reviews! I'll try to respond back to you guys ASAP, so please ask/suggest in your reviews as much as you'd like. I promise I read them all! (And love them!)

Special thanks for this chapter goes to **Colliequest** for her prompt: "Maybe trying to find enough time to spend with their kids with their jobs and other responsibilities?" It inspired me to write this! Thanks a million!

* * *

><p>"What do you need, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, panting as he burst into the hokage's office. Two delegates from Kiri turned slowly to regard him with unamusement painted all over their faces. Between them, Naruto could see Kakashi sitting at his desk, his expression suspiciously pleasant.<p>

"Ah, Naruto," he said, bringing his hands together in front of his face. "Glad you could make it. Our two ambassadors from Kirigakure no Sato would enjoy Konoha's sights, and I know you've been asking for more domestic missions lately. Please show them around, would you?" Kakashi smiled through his mask, and Naruto could feel the smugness emanating from him. He must not like these two if he was sending them on a tour of the city as a cruddy mission. Which meant that, in some way, Naruto was being punished as well by being saddled with them. He had about thirty retorts ready for Kakashi—the main one being that this should be the _hokage's_ job, but he knew that he'd get the exact same answer he got every other time he played that card with Kakashi. "_Consider it training_," the silver-haired, silver-tongued hokage would say, and Naruto could never seem to stop himself from feeling begrudgingly pleased by the prospect. He was thinking of another, better retort when he felt the small hand he was clasping give a little tug.

"Dad, I have to pee." Shinachiku said, gazing up at him with the wide green eyes of a four-year-old. "_Really bad_." He added in a severe whisper.

"Aw, really Shinachiku? I told you to make sure you went before we left." Naruto said.

"I di~i~i~id." He said, voice warbling as he hopped with discomfort. "And I gotta go again!" This was hilariously familiar to Naruto, bringing him back to his very young days—ones he generally didn't care to think much about—in this very same office facing the Sandaime. He remembered that at times he would end up here daily, usually following a prank that got him dragged up against his will. He had become intimately familiar with the office (much to Jiji's annoyance), including the bathroom that was directly joined to it. He pointed Shinachiku toward the door, not waiting for Kakashi's grace to allow his son to use the hokage's personal bathroom. Kakashi watched with half-lidded eyes as the child skidded in, already pulling at his shorts even as he slammed the door shut.

"You—" He started, cut off by the sound of Shinachiku's loud exclamation of relief, piercing straight through the door. "You brought another you into the world." He finished flatly, eyes boring into the sheepishly grinning Naruto.

"I know dattebayo!" He said, chest swelled in fatherly pride. Then he turned his attention back to the two ambassadors standing between him and Kakashi. "So, what interests you two gentlemen?" He pressed his hands together and gave a sloppy half-bow, grinning with slitted, fox-like eyes. When they returned his grin with flat, bored stares, he straightened back up and leveled them with a much more irritated gaze, folding his hands at the base of his neck.

"There's gotta be something you wanna do here in Konoha." He muttered. Shinachiku burst out of the bathroom then, eyes wide with excitement.

"The candy store! And ramen!" He exclaimed.

"Shinachiku, did you wash your hands?" Naruto asked him, eyebrow raised. The tiny blonde looked at his two hands, then threw them behind his back.

"Yes." He said, trying so very hard not to smile and failing.

"Go wash them, and don't lie." Naruto warned. Shinachiku gave him a severe frown.

"I want _candy_." He said petulantly.

"You can't have candy unless you wash your hands, little man." Naruto's response was flippant, and he gave the two ambassadors a knowing smirk, elbowing one amicably. "Kids, right?" He asked as Shinachiku marched back into the bathroom and hopped to turn the faucet on.

"We are _not _appraising the village with a toddler." The taller of the two, a pale, fanged man said. He had straight, lavender hair cascading down his back like a waterfall. The other, somehow even _more _pale man nodded slowly in agreement. He was stark bald and had a nasty scar zigzagging across his scalp. Naruto blinked for a moment, then let his face fall visibly.

"Aw, he's a good kid. You won't even notice he's there." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Even so, Naruto. Couldn't you leave him with a friend for a few hours?" Kakashi asked. It was at exactly that moment that Shinachiku bolted back out of the bathroom, his hands splattering water everywhere, and began hopping up and down before his father.

"Dad, Dad! Can I see Kiba-ojiisan? And Amakaru?" Shinachiku asked, once again butchering Akamaru's name. Naruto grinned lopsidedly.

"Sorry little man, Kiba's busy today." He said.

"Aw _man_," the child muttered, scuffing the toe of his sandal on the floor in disappointment.

"You might—" Kakashi started, eyes flitting to the still-running water in the bathroom just before he got cut off.

"We are _not_ interested in this venture if the child is joining us. This is a _grown-up_ matter." The tall Kiri-nin interrupted, sneering at Shinachiku childishly with a nasty show of his fangs.

"Coooooooooooooool" Shinachiku breathed, impressed rather than intimidated. This seemed to baffle the man, who frowned at his partner and then stalked past the two blondes toward the door.

"Let's get this over with. _Without_ the child." He said, putting his nose in the air and exiting the room, his partner close behind. Shinachiku seemed unfazed.

"Did you see his _teeth_, Dad?" He asked, fists balled in excitement.

"Yeah. Hey, you'll be okay here, right?" He asked, ruffling Shinachiku's hair affectionately. The younger Uzumaki gazed up at him with wide, blinking eyes, silent for a moment. Naruto worried that the situation would hurt his feelings, but it certainly was one of those "nature lessons" or whatever Sakura was always talking about letting their kids experience.

"_Here_?" Kakashi asked, eyes coming back to rest on Naruto after once again glancing at the running water. Naruto simply nodded.

"I get to stay with _Hokage-sama?" _Shinachiku asked, eyes wide with wonder.

"I'm sure having one child with you won't interfere with the mission." Kakashi quipped suddenly.

"But I already have one," Naruto said, thumbing over his shoulder and spinning to show the baby sleeping soundly in a sling across his back. The 18-month-old redhead shifted in her sleep as though she knew she were suddenly under scrutiny. Kakashi balked, and Naruto took that chance to back out toward the door. "And I don't want to bug your guests _too_ much, do I? See you later, Kakashi-sensei! Thanks for babysitting! Love you Shinachiku, be back in a while, little man."

"Bye Daaaad!" Shinachiku sang loudly, hugging his father around the knees. Naruto crouched to give him a bear hug, ruffling his hand through matching blonde hair with a treasuring smile. Then he was off with a wave, leaving his firstborn to stand grinning in excitement.

"You might want to turn that off," Kakashi finally said, now out of his Naruto-induced stupor but not quite over what had just been pulled on him. Shinachiku gasped, dashed back into the bathroom, and jumped three times (each jump was accompanied by an exclamatory grunt, of course) before he managed to fully shut off the faucet. He gave a cry of success and then dried his hands with a towel... which he then stuffed messily back on its hanger. From his angle, Kakashi watched it slide onto the floor almost immediately thereafter as the small boy hopped cheerfully toward him.

"Hooo-_kage-samaaaa!_" He sang, drumming his hands on the desk and standing on his tip-toes to peek onto it. "Can we play a game? Oh! Do you have candy? Mom says noooo candy, but Dad says it's okay, promise!" He continued to drum his hands, bouncing up and down on his heels. Kakashi sighed quietly.

"Yeah, I have candy," he said, handing the child a lollipop from one of his desk drawers. If he'd known any better, he would never have let the boy see which drawer—because Shinachiku had already locked the location into his memory forever, his calculating mind making rudimentary plans for future candy heists. Kakashi watched as he fumbled the wrapper off with chubby little fingers, then placed it onto the desk carefully. He shoved it into his mouth so that it made one cheek comically rounded, then flashed a grin at the older man.

Kakashi reached out and placed a tentative hand on the boy's blonde head, giving it a little ruffle. Shinachiku peered at him through blonde locks, green eyes sparkling with childish innocence. Kakashi was beginning to think that maybe, _just maybe_, this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Then Shinachiku suddenly reared back and sneezed, sending the wet, sticky lollipop skittering across the paperwork on his desk.

"I need another candy Hokage-sama" He said quite matter-of-factly, just before wiping his nose messily onto his sleeve. Almost mechanically, Kakashi smiled, handed him a second lollipop, and walked to the door of his office. He poked his head out and his eyes found one of his attendants, a kind and obedient chuunin who had also served Lady Tsunade faithfully. He beckoned him into the room, then sent Shinachiku out with him.

"Have fun, you two." He said pleasantly.

Then he slammed the door.

* * *

><p><strong>Chronological ArcChapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)** * You Are Here**  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	3. The Uzusagis, Part 1

Once again, thank you SO much for the great reviews! I've gotten a ton of ideas from you guys already and really appreciate all the help you've given. I'll try my best to credit whomever inspires me in any way.

As I mentioned to some of you, I wanted to make a more tangible "plan" of what this Big Uzumaki Family looks like. I don't use the word big lightly. Also, just so you know, tomorrow's chapter directly relates to this one.

Special thanks to **Namikaze-Hime** for two of the names in here (Umeko and Kozakura, both of which I ADORE), as well as to **Princess Aimi** for the name Emiko, which I also love (the name just sounds "right" for the personality I have planned for her).

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><p>The first time Sakura found out she was having a child, she was 21 and the friends she'd grown up with (plus a few) congratulated her with cheers and pats on the back. The only exception was Shino, who seemed to respond with a fair bit more coldness than usual, although she never really considered why that might have been.<p>

She had been too busy trying not to kill two people: Ino for her too-loud whispers of mock-surprise that the two Uzumakis "even _knew how_ to make babies," and Sai for his commentary on how he had thought "_it_" would have been too small to "_work._"

—

The second time Naruto found out he was having a child, he was 22 and got a gentle pat on the shoulder from Iruka-sensei, who told him with tears in his eyes how proud he was and how far his favorite student had come. Naruto had swatted him away with loud, annoyed cries about how much of a baby he was being. Iruka had not backed off. Instead, with his voice wavering in a mix of remorse and gratitude and with tears sliding down his face, he had described the most meaningful moment of healing in his life: the day he had finally come to see—truly _see_—Naruto.

When Sakura had found them, Shinachiku bawling relentlessly for his father, they were sitting on the floor, crying in one another's arms.

She would have been mad if the scene had not completely befuddled the two-year-old into calm silence.

—

The third time Sakura found out she was having a child, she was 24 and she didn't want to tell anyone. Their daughter Emiko was only eight weeks old when Naruto had patted her on the belly and said "_this one was fast!_" She had punched him through the wall in shock and then scrambled through the rubble to find their calendar to double-check, then re-check her fertility schedule. Their third child was their first "happy accident." She was not, however, their last.

"_They call those Suna twins,_" Tsunade had slurred in the midst of a sake binge, for once showing her age with the crude, old-world comment. It was an ethnic joke toward Suna's large families; children born within a year of one another were more common there than many other places. Thus, the term "Suna twins" had come about.

Then she had waggled her eyebrows and asked why. Why Sakura couldn't have waited just a few more months. When Sakura had not answered, the woman had only pressed further between shots of sake. She asked how big _it_ was. She asked if Naruto was a monkey in bed. She asked things that never, ever should have been asked. Sakura had withered and, after the third question, officially felt her soul escape from her body.

All she had wanted to do was run—run far, far away. But Tsunade had her arm firmly around her favorite apprentice's neck like a vice, trapping her.

She had not let go until Sakura answered.

—

The fourth time Naruto found out he was having a child, he was 27 and he was terrified. He could tell that Sakura was pregnant as soon as he got home from the week-long mission. She had exhaustedly shoved their two toddler-age daughters into his arms and told him she needed a nap.

She had been the one to ask for a fourth child. In fact, she had pretty much demanded it.

Emiko and her little sister Minako had proved to be princesses, both in their own right. It was probably more accurate to call Minako a prince—or perhaps something more along the lines of a rogue—but that wasn't the point. The point was that they were both spoiled.

Badly.

As usual, the two young parents had gone to Sakura's own for advice, and her father had been completely serious, for once. "_The only way to unspoil a kid is to have another kid_" he had even _said_ it in a tone that implied sagelike wisdom. Which was pretty weird.

Then, Mebuki's voice had floated from the kitchen: "_That explains everything you need to know about Sakura._" The visit had ended like every other visit to his in-laws' home: with Naruto taking the children and fleeing.

Sakura had begrudgingly agreed that it was probably a good idea. And maybe, she had suggested as she latched onto Naruto's arm the next day and tickled his palm in a way that made his whole body tingle with anticipation, they would have another boy to balance things out.

But that was _all_, she had said sternly, looking him in the eye. Four would definitely be their _maximum._

So as Naruto had waited for the napping Sakura to wake up, sweat dripping down his brow, he had thought of about a million ways to tell her that they were having twins.

—

The fifth time Sakura found out she was having a child, she was 28 and it had been only two seconds since she had found out she was having a fourth child.

After punching Naruto, she had told him (and half of their neighbors, coincidentally) that he had done it on purpose. _Somehow_.

—

The sixth time Sakura found out she was having a child, she was 29 and Ino had burst out laughing uncontrollably. "_Are you joking? Are you __**joking**__? This is a joke, right?_" She had asked between very unladylike guffaws. Sakura had not found it funny in the least. Neither did her pink-haired twins Umeko and Kozakura, who were silently staring from their nestled seats in a stroller, nor her red-haired secondborn Emiko who was clutching her hand at her side. However, the yellow-haired Shinachiku and Minako had both found it hilarious. Sakura was beginning to notice a pattern with a certain hair color.

And she didn't like it.

She had told Ino promptly to shut up, but then her long-time best friend had uttered a word that would become the bane of Sakura's existence.

"_You're like bunnies,_" Ino had said when she could finally breathe again. Much to Sakura's chagrin, the two blonde children had begun chanting "_usagi_" after Ino, though they clearly did not understand the double entendre at all. Then Ino's strange mind had wandered into some uncharted sea of indelicate topics, and the word _Uzusagi_ was born.

No amount of threats had stopped Ino from spreading the new nickname, and since the Uzumaki family was (in)famous in Konoha, it didn't take long before the entire village knew of the moniker.

Nor did it take long to find out that the _Uzusagi_ family was having their sixth child in the span of only eight years.

* * *

><p><strong>Chronological ArcChapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)** * You Are Here**  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	4. The Uzusagis, Part 2

Once again, thank you thank you THANK YOU for all the reviews! I really appreciate them and read them all! I'll reply to them ASAP but tonight I am so tired I'm dying. I worked late tonight and then went out with friends... and I can't tell if I'm just _that _tired or if the drinks are still affecting me (I only had two weak ones though!). I just finished the rest of this chapter after getting home, so I hope it's good!

Once again, please make suggestions, offer prompts, pitch me your headcanons, offer name ideas, etc etc. Like I said before, I'm going to need a lot of inspiration to keep this baby chugging for another 27 days. Anyway, I hope you're all enjoying the read!

* * *

><p>The seventh time Naruto found out he was having a child, he was 30 and he might have been drinking a little. Or perhaps more than a little. Sakura had been exceedingly... <em>argumentative<em> lately, and although he loved her dearly he'd been seriously needing some guy time.

He had stumbled home from the restaurant at nearly two in the morning, only to find Sakura sleeping on the couch in wait for him. He'd found it so sweet and endearing that he thought he'd nap with her. Thus, he had slipped delicately behind her to gently place his lips against the back of her head, only to find that he'd shoved her off the couch and onto the floor and was about to get killed and _he should run, run now _but he couldn't even see straight.

In his oxymoronically slow, numb panic he thought humor might help, so he had taken a sultry pose—one hand propping his head up while his elbow dug into the couch cushion, the other hand draped over his hip.

Sakura had stood slowly like a creature rising from hell, cracking her knuckles. But his next words had frozen her in place. "_We made another baby,_" he had said, his face slowly transforming into shock at his own delayed revelation.

She had tackled him then, and in his drunkenness it took him nearly a full minute to realize that he was being cuddled rather than assaulted.

Ino had lectured him for the following three weeks about paying more attention to his overworked, underappreciated wife and _noticing_ when she was suffering from postpartum depression. He locked her words into his heart and promised to practice them to the tee, of course, but secretly he wondered if it could have been _that _bad if it had made Sakura want another child.

—

The eighth time Sakura found out she was having a child, she was 31 and Shinachiku had just turned ten. He had been training with Emiko and Minako, and although he had already become exceedingly good with kunai, he was a shockingly patient teacher to his younger siblings. "_Now I know you can be a good kid. I won't go easy on you anymore._" Sakura had said to him, to which he blushed and laughed sheepishly. Then he had suddenly blanched. "_You never go easy on me anyway!_" he cried indignantly, pointing an accusing finger at her. She had merely shrugged, reaching down to stroke his hair. "_That's because I love you. I want the best for my children._"

Emiko had been showing some potential with sensory skills for months now, even at just seven. She turned her head and stared off with perceptive, thoughtful eyes, and Sakura had glanced in the same direction. Naruto's chakra became known to her and he had bounded onto the training ground only seconds later from that very direction. "_Emiko, how did you know Dad was coming?_" She had asked her daughter, who lowered her chin shyly. The nearly-eight-year-old had muttered a quiet "_iuno_," but that wasn't enough for Minako who had taken the liberty of poking her sister in the ribs until she spilled more. Emiko had swatted at her, squawking angrily.

It was about then that Naruto had crouched before his secondborn, a wide smile on his face. He placed a hand onto the top of her head, and it dwarfed her by comparison. "_Daaad I can throw kunai real good! Watch, watch!_" Minako had called, and when he had distractedly told her that was great, she had marched to him in a huff, lifted his free hand, and slapped it onto the top of her own head. Sakura watched in amusement at the scene. Minako had never been one to let her father's attention be equally shared.

"_So Emiko-chan, you can feel my chakra, huh?_" He had asked the small redhead. She had nodded into his hand, her cheeks beginning to match her hair. "_Can you feel Mom's chakra too?_" She had nodded again. "_And other people's?_" She had done a half-nod then, tipping her head to the side a little. "_Hmm. Neat!_" She had blushed further, somehow. "_So could you tell that Mom's having another baby?_"

"_W-What?_" Sakura had demanded, paling. "We are_?_"

"_Oh._" Naruto had said, turning to regard his wife. "_Yeah._"

—

The ninth time Naruto found out he was having a child, he was 36 and both he and Sakura were ecstatic.

Both had been independently brooding for nearly a year before they realized that it was a mutual feeling. They wanted another child. It had been Sakura who ultimately confessed her desire. "_My arms feel so empty,_" she had said with a small, sad smile on her face. "_Sometimes I really want just one more..._" She held her arms so that a tiny baby would have tucked perfectly in them.

Naruto had fallen out of his chair in his frantic, clumsy attempt to get out of his seat behind the hokage desk. The clattering noise and Sakura's subsequent shriek had lead to Shikamaru bursting through the door, ready for action.

Instead of intruders, what he had seen was Naruto about to leap from the window with Sakura in his arms. "_Where are you going?_" He had asked, immediately noting that it had been a false alarm.

Naruto had frozen, his expression hauntingly reminiscent of a deer caught in a bright light. "_Nowhere,_" he had responded, and Sakura remained silent, piercing Shikamaru with her best _you-better-mind-your-business-boy_ glare.

But Shikamaru was sick of being saddled with paperwork that was not his. "_Naruto, you have a lot of paperwork, and I'm not going to do it._" He had said, a touch of warning to his otherwise bored tone.

"_Just... just twenty minutes,_" Naruto had said, shifting impatiently. Sakura drummed her fingers on his shoulder, still giving Shikamaru a dangerous look. And then Shikamaru's expression had shifted from unamusement to mild disgust. He turned away, hearing the swish of fabric as Naruto quickly departed.

"_Uzusagi..._" he muttered under his breath.

—

The tenth time Sakura found out she was having a child, she was 38 and she was suspicious because her friends had set up a party for her and Naruto. Sai had recited some nonsense (that Ino had probably fed him) about it being a party for their tenth pregnancy. She had remained unconvinced, but Naruto was more than excited at the prospect of a get-together of all his favorite friends.

When the two walked into their party, they were welcomed by a room filled with their friends and lined with buffet tables covered in finger foods. They had scarcely begun to mingle when Ino suddenly burst out at Sakura, her glass of wine sloshing about in her hand.

"_Okay, I've had it. Enough is enough! You two have to stop this. At this rate, Konoha will be two thirds Uzumaki in a few generations, and just.. just __**think about that.**_" She had cried, beginning an uproar of comments.

Sakura's good humor had evaporated instantly. She had thought suddenly about Shinachiku at home babysitting the younger of the Uzumaki children. While he was perfectly capable of it, Sakura was furious to be dragged away from her 11-month-old girl Misaki for _this_.

"_But their fervence is beautiful! We must not stop the power of youth!_" Lee had cut in, and TenTen had grabbed him as he finished and jerked him backward so that he was standing next to her obediently.

"_I don't see how it's our business at all_," Chouji had said quietly from somewhere in the back, his hands filled with a plate piled high. Next to him, Shino nodded silently.

"_I think Lee-kun and Chouji-kun are right._" Hinata had stated with a firm nod.

"_There's too many of those damned kids! I wanna take my princess to the park, but those loud Uzusagi kids are all over the place! They're like cockroaches!_" Kiba had shouted, his voice bouncing off the walls. In the back of the room, Shino started and then shook his head slowly with indignation.

"_How are you even still walking after nine children?_" Sai had asked Sakura with a pleasant smile.

"_I don't care how many you have, but you need to make sure they are looked after. They run around the village without any supervision most of the time._" Shikamaru had stated in an uncharacteristic show of true bias—his statement was true of half of the present nins' children.

An intense wave of Killing Intent had suddenly washed over the room, and the shinobi therein were cowed into silence. "_If you have a problem with our children, then we're going to have a problem with you. Is that clear?_" Sakura had asked, her eyes glinting threateningly as she pounded a fist into her hand.

Next to her, Naruto looked just as menacing. The orange, fiery tongues of Kurama's chakra were lapping up around him and making his narrowed eyes reddish in the blaze. "_Come on, Sakura-chan. Let's get out of here._" He had stated after a moment, his voice serious and solemn.

Sakura had somehow managed to contain her anger and stalked out of the building, much to the relief of the room's other occupants. Naruto had offered them all a look of complete letdown and then stalked to the food table to stack up several plates and retreat back to the door. His eyes never left them.

He had already begun to stuff dango into his mouth when he finally departed with one last disappointed shake of his head.

—

The eleventh time Naruto found out he was having a child, he was 39 and he had made sure to tell all of his friends immediately. He had expected some hilarious aggravation from them, but instead they seemed to be filled only with critical levels of unsurprise.

The times of shock had passed, and the times of mocking laughter had passed. Even the times of annoyance and intervention had passed. Now, Konoha had simply accepted one of life's few constants.

The Uzumakis would never stop having children.

The irony was that this village-wide acceptance had come about at the exact same time that it had become obsolete.

The Uzumakis had finally stopped having children.

With nine girls and two boys, Naruto, Shinachiku, and Taijo felt grossly outnumbered. However, Naruto would never feel a shred of regret or doubt, and he knew Sakura felt the same. They loved each of their eleven children more than life itself.

And as their children began to age and move out, to establish families of their own and bring grandchildren into the world, Naruto and Sakura were filled with overwhelming amounts of pride and forlorn.

It was when just four of their eleven children were still living at home that Naruto sat in deep thought, stirring his ramen idly. He was clearly distracted. Sakura sat across the table from him, concern touching her features.

"Sakura-chan, have you ever thought..." he began, pausing to swirl his chopsticks through the ramen broth for the thousandth time.

"...about adopting?"

* * *

><p><strong>Chronological ArcChapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)** * You Are Here**  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	5. Let's Wait, Part 1

Thank you all so much for your kind reviews again! So, these two chapters are going to be a little more serious than the preceding ones, although they won't be _completely_ serious.

* * *

><p>It had popped out of her mouth one night while she was feeling frustrated and insecure. Their more intimate moments were always both wonderful and frightening for Sakura, whose feelings about her looks were still so very negative. As the months passed and they began to explore their romantic relationship further, his interest in, well, being "with" her was pretty obvious. He never pushed, and he never went out of his way to let her know about it, but she could <em>see <em>it. And it frightened her.

She wanted to make love to him. But she couldn't. That was a step that involved exposing herself on a much deeper level than just skin. She loved him—she was _in love _with him, but she still had not been able to love herself quite yet. Not enough. And so one night, when in their passion she found him on top of her, his weight so very comfortable against her chest and his lips so very fitting against her own, she almost made herself concede. She pulled her shirt off, and in his fervor he did not hesitate, his mouth tasting the skin of her stomach and the spot between her breasts that was far too wide. The spot that never, ever felt the press of cleavage.

He would never allow himself to take a step forward without her distinct consent, but with the way his hands explored her skin, she knew he wanted her bra off. He wanted it, and she wanted him, so why couldn't she just do this?

Her hands shaking, she raised her shoulders forward and reached behind her. She fumbled with the clasp. It didn't want to open.

"Sakura-chan." She was so frustrated, so terrified about what she was about to show him, about what she was about to do with him. The clasp slipped from her shaking fingers again. "Sakura-chan. Stop." In the dim lighting of his dark bedroom, she finally raised her eyes back to his. He reached out and ran his thumb along her cheek, and that's when she realized she was crying. She pulled her hands from behind her back and fell back against the sheets, unable to make her eyes meet his anymore. "It's okay, you don't have to push yourself," he said gently, rolling to lie on his side next to her and taking her hand into his. He rested their clasped hands on her exposed stomach.

"I'm..." she sniffed, even more frustrated with her emotions now than before, "I'm sorry." She finished, tearful eyes locking with his as they gazed across the pillow at one another. He was smiling so lovingly it hurt to know she couldn't ever seem to give him what he wanted.

"It's okay Sakura-chan. I just want you to be happy." He said cheerfully, leaning forward and kissing her square on her big forehead. Her face reddened even more. Why didn't he get that she _was _happy? He put himself—everything he was—aside for her happiness. And she couldn't even manage a few fucking minutes of discomfort for his. She felt like a child being coddled, gingerly reassured that everything would be alright, and kissed on the forehead. She hated it. She hated these moments so much. And she hated herself because she was the sole reason for them.

"It's not okay." Was all she managed to say, her eyes narrowed so that her tears filled her entire vision and blurred his face into a mess of yellows and creams.

"We can wait as long as you need." He said, threading his fingers through her hair and kissing her again, this time on the lips.

"Yeah," her voice warbled meekly but with a bite of sarcasm. "Let's wait for marriage. My parents would love that."

"Okay." He agreed nonchalantly, and when her tearful eyes shot open, his own were slitted closed and he was nodding his head thoughtfully. "Then that's settled." She was stunned into silence.

She wanted to tell him no, that she hadn't really meant it. It had been a joke.

But it had set her pounding heart into such ease that she retracted behind the proposition like a coward.

—

He was taking it seriously.

With the comfort of knowing he was now on an official, time-constrained leash, Sakura felt her confidence rising each time they fell into the throes of passion. It was after a night of drinking with friends that the two stumbled their way back up to her apartment and fell onto her couch, their hands exploring one another's bodies with heat and desperation.

"Let's..." she managed to get a word out between kisses, "let's make love." He paused for only a second, then continued to kiss her as though she hadn't said it at all. "Naruto," she said after a moment while his mouth was pressed against her neck.

"I can wait, Sakura-chan." He murmured against her skin.

"I want to. I'm ready." She said, but she felt him shake his head, his hair tickling her chin. "Naruto." She said with a little more demand to her voice.

"Sakura-chan," he said, his face popping up to fill her vision all at once. "I stand by my word. You know that." And then with one last kiss—a very, very good kiss, mind you—he left and headed on his way home, leaving her behind completely dazed. When she'd finally regained her composure, she sat up, her hair askew in thirteen directions.

"That _fucking_ nindo." She said aloud to no one in particular.

* * *

><p>I find that while a lot of people claim Kishimoto is not a strong character writer, he's actually phenomenal at it in many ways. One example is Sakura's character—despite her overt strength of will and body, her <em>emotional<em> strength is childlike and fragile. Why? Well part of it is something that started very young (and considering her mother's shrewd character, we might already know), but another huge part is the trauma she experienced in response to _the first time she laid her heart out for someone_. And that someone coughSasukecough absolutely crushed her.

Having high self-esteem after an event like that seems nearly impossible to me. She would have to slowly rebuild her esteem over time, and even then it would be a challenge to remove feelings of inadequacy from her life completely. And as we all surely know, inadequacy affects every aspect of our lives, including how we regard ourselves intellectually, physically, sexually, etc. So I wondered—if this is likely an issue Sakura is struggling with, how might she get over that? The answer is Naruto, of course! But really, this chapter and the next are my take on a somewhat extreme possibility of how Sakura might begin her journey of feeling truly deserving in _every_ way. Without practicing escapism.

It's also interesting to me that one of Naruto's vices (if not his _main_ vice) is perversion, which might actually be very bad for someone like Sakura who might need extra patience. I wrote this in my love of seeing people overcome their vices, whether they be more internal (Sakura's) or more external (Naruto's).

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)** * You Are Here**  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	6. Let's Wait, Part 2

Early post tonight! So here's that second half! Thank you once again for your reviews. I'm hoping I can keep up with the daily posts in the coming weeks. I still have over a week's worth of chapters on hold, but I'll be extremely busy for quite a bit of this month. That means I won't have as much time to write. That being said, please encourage me. I get very motivated by people enjoying my work and it makes me write faster ;-; (sorry to sound demanding, but I'm being completely honest).

* * *

><p>She had felt ready once (perhaps even a few times), but now that it was imminent, her confidence had once again plummeted down. Down past the pit in her stomach, through her feet, and deep into the Earth. She was determined to enjoy her wedding reception without thinking about it, however, so she made sure to lay heavily on the sake.<p>

Very heavily.

The drinking had apparently been a good idea because she did enjoy the reception after all. It had been one of the most fun and happy moments of her life. Since many had come to attend the wedding from all throughout the adjoining countries, it was also a colossal event. Sakura had been able to stay close to her more intimate friends in the central area, but Naruto, true to his attention-loving self, had flitted around the massive party, socializing with anyone who'd share a word with him.

He was magnificent in how he made it impossible _not _to love him.

And he belonged to her.

As the party wrapped up, she had begun to say her goodbyes. Ino and Chouji both had lead her giggling form through the mess of tables and chairs, finally meeting back up with Naruto who was casting his farewells on a group of guests from Kumo. In her drunken daze, she had felt the warmth of his chest as he swept her into his arms, and she had heard his sweet, sensual voice tell her how much he'd been waiting for this day.

There was very little else she remembered.

—

Sakura woke up with a slick of sweat covering her body. Her... naked body. Naruto was still sleeping next to her, his form askew on the bed and one of his feet laid across her ankle. While his was poking out over the covers, hers was blessedly underneath. In fact, from what she could tell he was also disrobed, although the blanket covered what mattered.

But the horror came almost immediately.

She wracked her brain for the events the night before, but nothing came to her. Nothing. He was carrying her, and then nothing. _Nothing_. Had she really been _that _drunk? Yes, she had. Even now, hours later, she could _still _feel the buzz of alcohol on her brain, and she suspected that the odd twang in her head just behind it was a killer hangover waiting to take over. But that wasn't what bothered her.

She couldn't remember it. She had waited so long. She had made _him _wait so long. And she couldn't even remember her own wedding night.

How stupid. How stupid could someone be? She had drank to avoid feeling nervous, but she'd ended up drinking herself into a completely mindless stupor.

There was a small, cowardly part of her that was somewhat glad. It was over with, and she didn't have to experience the terrible moment that he would appraise her weird body that was neither as soft nor as curvy as it should have been. The terrible moment that she'd bare not just her body but her _everything_, her heart and soul and every horrible thought she'd ever had about herself—all for him to scrutinize.

But that cowardly part of her was overwhelmed by the disappointment in herself, the disappointment that she'd missed her _first time_ with Naruto.

It was like she hadn't even been there for it.

He was stirring, suddenly, and she didn't even know what to say or do. Should she tell him? Should she _ask _him? _"So, Naruto... did I like it?"_ Her own sneering, sarcastic voice asked in her head. This was horrible.

"Oh." He said, and she turned her head to see him gazing at her with a distinct frown on his face. "Good morning." He said humorlessly. Then he flipped to lie on his side, facing away from her in a huff.

Did that mean he knew? Or had she done something stupid last night that she now couldn't remember? Somehow, things had just gotten worse. She felt her eyes prickle, and the shock of it all was sobering her up enough to really start feeling her headache.

He seemed to be over his bad mood pretty quickly because he rolled back to face her again, propping head up with his elbow on the pillow, and said with his big, trademark grin, "Uzumaki-chan." But he did it too quickly for her to hide her face, and his eyes went wide when he saw her tearing eyes. "U-Uzumaki-chan? What's wrong? Sakura-chan!" He jumped up to kneel over her before she could avert her eyes from his nude form, but... he wasn't nude. He was wearing a pair of boxer shorts covered in cherry blossoms. For a moment, everything else was forgotten as her lip raised in absolute disgust at the awful, _awful _pun that was his underwear. He looked down at them, then his face flushed as well. "You made the same face last night, you know." He said, that little pout from earlier back for just a moment before he replaced it with concern. "What's wrong?" He asked once again.

"I have a hangover," she said in a lie-but-truth.

"Hm." And there was the pout again. He seemed torn between delight and childish anger this morning, and while it would probably have been adorable on any _other _morning, she was far too focused on her Mistake of a Lifetime to find anything cute. But she was sick of making mistakes due to cowardice. She gathered her courage carefully around her as she formulated her next sentence.

"I'm sorry for whatever I did last night. I'm an idiot. I drank too much. I don't..." the words that had been spilling out of her mouth stopped all at once, but she still clutched at the last dregs of her bravery before it slipped away. "I don't remember." She finished, closing her eyes and feeling a single tear fall down her cheek. He didn't speak words of comfort. He didn't reach out and brush her tear off her cheek. Nothing. When she opened her eyes, he was sitting back on his heels next to her in bed, his arms crossed and his eyes slitted shut, mouth formed into a small frown.

"Well, you got really uhhh, eehhmmm... well, you took off all your clothes. And you tried to take mine off." She was so red that she could feel the heat radiating off her face. She pulled the blanket to cover up to her nose, peeking out at him in horror. Had she really? Had she _really_ done that? He continued, much to her displeasure, although she knew she deserved to hear every last awful detail. "And I kept saying _'No, Sakura-chan, no!'_ but you didn't want to listen. But I managed to hold you off until you fell asleep." He was almost making it sound like some kind of S-Rank mission, which gave her an odd mixture of anger with her shame. "But then," he continued, "I couldn't sleep because Sakura-chan was naked next to me and she was so pretty and perfect I couldn't even think about sleeping." He finished the story with a frustrated shake of his head.

"You mean..." She swallowed hard, clutching at the blanket that was the only thing protecting her naked body—which Naruto had already seen _a lot_, apparently. "You mean we didn't..." She let the question finish itself. He shook his head emphatically.

"Are you kidding? Not when you were like that. You kept saying _'I'm not waiting till our wedding night anymore!'_ It was really funny, and I _really _wanted to, but that wouldn't be fair." Now he gazed at her levelly. "But if you're ready now..."

She turned, pressing her face into the pillow. "I have a headache." She whimpered, the shitty excuse of the century, even if it were painfully true. He laughed, loud and hard, and she peeked back at him now, relief on her features. This was the person who could always put her at ease, even in the most embarrassing and shameful moments. Her most cherished person.

"My Sakura-chan's back now," he said, and then he threw himself down next to her, curling his body around hers like a shell. "I told you before," he breathed into the back of her neck, "I can wait."

* * *

><p>I love the idea that Sakura spiritually inherited so many of her traits from Tsunade, including my favorite headcanon one: becoming completely perverted while drunk (in canon, Tsunade just learned how to hold her alcohol in her years of experience, ehehe). I like to imagine that Jiraiya had a similar chance with Tsunade once and did the same thing Naruto did. ...And then thought about how much he regretted it for the rest of his life. He never got a second chance, though.<p>

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)** * You Are Here**  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	7. Bedtime Routine

Ah, a new day, a new chapter. Oh look! I've reached one full week of posting now! Once again, I want to thank you all for your very kind reviews. I still have a constant want (AND HUGE APPRECIATION) for ideas, prompts, suggestions, inspiration, and encouragement. Send me whatever you'd like!

* * *

><p>When Naruto had gotten home that night, Sakura could immediately tell something was bothering him, though she wasn't sure what that <em>something<em> was. He seemed lost in thought at every moment that he wasn't being directly engaged by one of the kids (which, to be fair, was actually quite rare).

When they finally slipped into bed, she gave him some time to settle in before asking what was up.

"You're somewhere else tonight," she commented with a wry smile. "Did something happen?"

"It's nothing," he said softly, wearing a smile. Her wife-dar was beeping out of control now. Naruto was usually _very _talkative about work-related bothers if ever she gave him the chance. In fact, most of the stances he took on hokage-related issues were jointly decided by the couple in private before he brought them to his council for final discussion. Which meant this wasn't work-related.

"Naruto," she started, but the sound of a loud banging on their door made the two start.

"Mooooooom! Sayuri won't stop _kicking_ me!" Yuu's voice called from behind it, then she shrieked, and the sound of two growling children slapping one another reached the parents' ears.

"DID NOT!" Sayuri cried angrily. When Sakura opened the door, the two were locked in a battle of hair-pulling and Sayuri was trying to kick Yuu, but her much shorter leg couldn't quite reach.

"MOM!" Yuu shrieked, wincing as her long, blonde hair was tugged even harder. Then, when Sayuri glanced at their mother briefly, Yuu took the chance to release her sister's pale pink hair and punch her on the forehead. Sayuri stumbled backward, clutching at her face.

"Moooom!" She wailed.

Sakura watched the scene flatly, her expression perfectly unamused.

"Sit. Down." She growled. The two girls froze, then immediately plopped onto the floor without a second thought.

"You two are only _temporarily_ sharing a bed, and if I hear _one more complaint _from _either_ of you, then you are _both _going to be grounded. And if I catch you fighting like babies again... you can expect _worse_." She said, placing extreme emphasis on her words so that the two girls—now with bird's nests for hair—were cowed into wide-eyed silence.

"Sorry, Mom," Yuu murmured, her head dipped. Sayuri glared at her accusingly, as though she were detecting a lie. But then she conceded, crossing her arms.

"Sorry too," she quipped. Then, without waiting to see if her apology had been accepted, she bounded past her mother and hopped up onto the end of the bed where Naruto was sitting with a scroll in hand. "Dad, brush my hair!" She sang, grinning through the tangled locks. He could only laugh as he reached in the drawer to his bedside table to dig through a mess of hair combs, small plush toys, and picture books—all at the ready for needy little children in the middle of the night. He found the sparkly brush with _Sayuri_ scrawled on the side in a five-year-old's handwriting and, when she plopped herself down in his lap, began to struggle through the knotted ends of her hair.

Sakura sighed with resignation. "You're not supposed to just do as she says after she fights with her sister, you know," she muttered, but Yuu's longing gaze at the scene before them was enough to let her know she'd be doing the same in only a moment.

And so she was, though she barely had the energy to keep her eyes open. She brushed through long, blonde strands and smiled warmly. Yuu's hair was probably the closest to Naruto's—although Shinachiku and Minako had a similar shade as well, their hair's consistency was slightly more fine like their mother's. Brushing her fingers through Yuu's hair, she could barely distinguish it from Naruto's were it not for the length.

Even so, Yuu had inherited her eye color from Sakura—and her face, well... she was too young to know for sure, but she was starting to resemble a certain face on the Hokage Monument. And it wasn't Naruto's.

"Both of you need to work harder to get along better," she commented gently, feeling Yuu's shoulders stiffen at the remark. Next to her, in Naruto's lap, Sayuri blew a raspberry.

"I just can't wait till I get my _own_ bed! Then I can do _whatever I want_." She said, nodding emphatically and giving Naruto a right challenge as he tried to finish brushing out the last of her pale pink knots.

"Not quite, but at least you can spread out more," her mother hummed in response. "And _you_ don't have to get kicked," she added, brushing Yuu's bangs from her forehead gently. Yuu flinched her head away, but Sakura could see from the side that her cheeks had raised in a shy smile.

Sakura yawned and blinked slowly, her exhaustion settling over her.

"Why don't you two go to bed now?" Naruto asked. When Sakura stole a glance, he was gazing at her with a gentle smile.

"Not yet!" Sayuri said, punching her fists into the blanket on either side of her. Yuu shot her an angry glare and, after giving her mother a long hug and receiving a pat on the head from her father, crawled off the bed and headed back to her bedroom.

Naruto watched as Sakura put Yuu's brush away and then laid down herself. He ran the comb through his daughter's hair one last time, then kissed her on the top of the head and spoke softly into her hair. "Now be good for me, please. Go on to bed, Babygirl." She turned to face him indignantly, but a sudden yawn interrupted her pouting despite her best attempt to stifle it.

"I wanna—" he shushed her with a finger to her lips and nodded toward her already-dozing mother. "I wanna stay with Mom and Dad," the five-year-old finished in a loud whisper. She gave him the largest, most pleading green eyes. Coupled with the face of an adorable tiny Sakura and wispy, light pink hair, he didn't stand a chance.

Naruto had to look away. It was looking grim for him now that she'd broken out _the eyes_, but he composed himself, then firmly said "No." Her face contorted into the petulant, chubby frown of an angry five-year-old, and she balled her fists. Then, to his horror, she sucked in a deep breath and reared back to holler some protestation—but Naruto pressed his fingers to her mouth yet again. "Sayuri-chan." He said it in a low tone of warning that sobered her sufficiently. "Not tonight. Now go to bed."

The two shared a staring contest for about three seconds before she huffed, her expression a mixture of anger and hurt. Naruto swallowed his guilt and silently thanked Shinachiku and Minako for all the (failed) practice in evicting needy children from their parents' bed. Sayuri finally hopped down and stalked to the door, but then she stopped. For a moment, she faced away from him, head down, but then she turned and offered him an imploring gaze.

"Daddy, can you..." She looked at the floor again, pouting. "Can you tuck me in?" At that moment, he couldn't have stopped himself from smiling if he'd tried. He eased out of bed gently and walked his daughter to her room. Then, after tucking in both her and the slumbering Yuu, he planted a kiss on her charming little forehead.

Naruto slipped quietly past his bedroom door, offering Sakura his regards mentally. He stepped outside and pulled his jacket collar up, hunching his shoulders so that it shielded his ears from the cold, biting wind. With a sigh that he watched the wind sweep away, he headed toward the Hokage Tower.

* * *

><p>Sorry about the cliffhangerish ending! This was initially going to be a very brief scene in the middle of another plot (which will be going up over the next day or two) but it took on a life of its own.<p>

By the way, the sister interaction in this chapter was pretty much my childhood in a nutshell. Can you guess which of the two sisters I was?

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)** * You Are Here**  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	8. That Jutsu, Part 1

To answer the question I left for you guys last chapter, I was very much like Sayuri with my sister growing up. Yup, I was _that _sister. The weird, confrontational younger one.

Anyway, here it is, the _first _part of what I mentioned before. Yes, this is out of order. The last chapter with the hair-brushing takes place after this one and before tomorrow's chapter. I just felt like the order was more interesting that way (and yesterday's chapter may have been done first—that could have something to do with it... *cough*). Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

><p>Shinachiku was sixteen when he took his red-haired little brother aside to begin the Uzumaki Male Rite of Passage, also known as the Oiroke no Jutsu. Dad had taught it to him quite some years ago, although it hadn't been so much teaching as offering a single sample of the jutsu—then, as a direct result of that sample, a proper demonstration of its weak point (because <em>every<em> jutsu has a weak point). The weakness of the sexy jutsu was known as Mom. Or rather, Mom's fists. Shinachiku may not have been a genius like his sister Emiko, but he was smart enough to know when to hide things from his mother.

Because Uzumaki Sakura was the most terrifying person on the planet. When she wanted to be.

And so, just a month before his little brother's ninth birthday, he decided to pass his secret knowledge on. He was confident that his brother could handle the jutsu, despite still being a child of only eight.

Taijo was wearing a small smile of muted pride as he wove the seal yet again. With a puff of smoke, his small form was replaced by a shy looking woman with long, red hair. Who happened to be naked.

"No no no, you gotta really ham it up Tai-chan. Like, you know." Without changing his form (because the last few times Taijo had blushed wildly and covered his eyes, refusing to look until the blonde naked lady was gone), Shinachiku took a suggestive pose.

The busty redhead began to smile, then giggled softly.

"Yeah, yeah, giggling's good too! But you gotta kinda twist your body, and like put your butt out. You have to make _that _look big, and _these _look big," he said, gesturing as though he were holding two grapefruits to his chest. The naked woman looked away shyly. "Aw, c'mon Tai-chan. We practiced this so much and you finally got it. Dad'll be so proud if you show that you learned the first jutsu he ever invented!"

The redhead sighed, then nodded sullenly. "Yeah," she said. "I'm sorry, Niichan."

"Nah, don't be sorry! Just strike a pose!" Shinachiku said, pulling a box of pocky out of his pocket. He munched on one idly, his expression one of mild boredom as Taijo hesitantly moved his henge of a well-developed naked woman in odd ways. This continued until one of the poses seemed viable. "STOP." Shinachiku said as soon as he saw it. "That's the one. Yeah, that's definitely the one." He nodded proudly. "Now practice it, but don't let anyone see. _Especially Mom_. Once you get it down, all we gotta do is find the right time. Dad's gonna laugh so hard!"

With a puff of smoke, the lady with long red hair was replaced with a small red-haired, blue-eyed boy. Shinachiku offered him a stick of pocky. Then he laid a folded arm on the top of his head and leaned on him as though he were a piece of furniture. "This is gonna be awesome, Tai-chan." Taijo only nodded with a pleasant smile, munching on his pocky.

—

It was only a week later when Shinachiku found the opportunity. He'd been called up to a private meeting with Dad, so he asked Taijo to wait outside the office for the meeting to end. The meeting was to brief him on a new chuunin mission. Shinachiku was somewhat annoyed when Shikamaru was present for half the meeting, explaining the ins and outs of the Chuunin Exams and how his mission tied in. What made it even more irritating was that his particular role was minor compared to all the detailed duties Shikamaru was going over. Even so, he held his tongue the entire time except to offer the occasional "_Hai, Shikamaru-sensei._"

"Is Taijo waiting for you? Or me?" Naruto asked as Shikamaru took his leave from the office.

"Uh, both of us, actually." Shinachiku said, scratching the back of his head. He caught his father's grin at the gesture and couldn't help but smile himself. His mother constantly commented on how alike their mannerisms were. "Are you busy, Dad?" He asked, trying to ensure that they'd have privacy for at least long enough to show off Taijo's masterpiece.

"Not for you two! Come on in, Taijo, don't just stand out there." Taijo stepped into the office, a mild mannered smile still on his face. He softly closed the door, then stepped forward and bowed to his father. "Aw, c'mere little man," Naruto said, stepping from behind his desk and scooping the boy into a bear hug. Taijo's quiet smile blossomed into the rare grin.

"Okay, okay, show him, Taijo." Shinachiku said as soon as Naruto had put the boy down. Hesitantly, Taijo lifted his hands and formed the seal.

"Oiroke no Jutsu!" His voice rang out, and Naruto began to laugh with amusement and surprise. But then, as the smoke began to clear, his laugh halted very suddenly.

And his merry smile just... dissolved.

And he panicked.

"Wha-no, _**NO**_!" He threw his hands up, palms out at the nude woman. "Don't—_**stop that, Taijo!**_" His voice was shrill, and his eyes were wider than the two had ever seen them.

With a small puff of smoke, the henge was released and Taijo was left staring at his father in horror. He'd... he'd... _gotten in trouble_. Shinachiku was just wordless, his lips parted in quiet shock. After a blank-faced pause, Naruto was suddenly smiling again as though he hadn't just freaked out.

"Ah, um, I'm sorry Taijo, I didn't mean to yell at you." He patted Taijo on the head apologetically. The eight-year-old blinked away the tears that'd been brimming in his eyes, then smiled as well.

"It's okay, Dad," he said, patting the arm that was patting his head.

"What... What the _heck,_ Dad. We practiced that for ages. I mean that... that's _your _jutsu!" Shinachiku exclaimed, tilting his head with an incredulous expression.

Naruto straightened again, then turned to gaze out the window. "Well," he started softly, taking a step close to it. His hair caught the rays of the sun that was just beginning to dip over the Hokage Monument, framing him in a majestic halo. "I just decided that the meaning of true manhood is to, uhh... to... _not_... use that jutsu." He gave a little cough.

Shinachiku was wearing a look of an almost disgusted skepticism.

Taijo was nodding slowly with his mouth slightly open, enchanted.

The silence that followed lasted an uncomfortably long time.

"What the hell?" Shinachiku asked after his paralytic disbelief had passed.

"Watch your language, Shinachiku," Naruto responded, turning to regard his sons again.

"Dad—" He started, but Naruto cut in.

"No buts. Now you two go on home." He said delicately.

"I didn't even _say_ 'but'!" Shinachiku cried, his hands twitching helplessly at his sides.

"Act your age, Shinachiku. There's no need to get rowdy." Naruto tutted calmly.

"I'm not getting rowdy! You—_You_ got rowdy first!" He exclaimed. Naruto's couth front was gone in an instant.

"That was different!" He shouted back even more loudly and pointed a finger at his son argumentatively.

"It was not! You even yelled at poor little Taijo!" Shinachiku gestured to his little brother, who seemed to believe that staying perfectly rigid would make him invisible any second now. There was a nervous smile on his face and sweat beading on his brow.

"That—_that doesn't count_! And now you're using him!" Naruto threw back.

"I am not! You just can't admit when you're wrong!" Shinachiku accused.

Suddenly, the door banged open. Shikamaru stood in the threshold wearing an unusually irritated expression. His eyes immediately found Shinachiku, who already looked nervous at his presence.

"Shinachiku." He started. "You were given this mission because you've proven yourself to be levelheaded. Are you going to change that?" He asked, his head lowered slightly and his intense gaze locked with Shinachiku's. The blonde teen took a step back, blinked a few times, and then opened his mouth. He closed it after just a second. Finally, he dipped his head and muttered a quiet apology to his sensei. Then he shoved his hands in his pockets, gave his dad a pouting sneer, and stepped out of the room.

"C'mon Taijo. We gotta practice your bunshin a bit more, anyway." He said, brushing past Shikamaru with his chin nearly on his chest.

Taijo snapped out of his frozen state and looked to his father for permission to leave.

"Ah, yeah, go on and train, Taijo. Sorry again little man," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. Then he ruffled the fine red hair with a smile, and the boy skittered out of the room immediately thereafter.

Naruto stepped forward and clapped a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder with a laugh once the two were out of earshot. "You are so good with him. He can still be a little kid sometimes." He chuckled amicably. Shikamaru's cold gaze had not changed.

"You are just as bad as he is. You—" He stopped, then shook his head when Naruto looked indignant—as though he _hadn't_ been expecting this response. "Nevermind. You are too troublesome. Stop having family fights in the office. It's unbecoming of the Hokage." Naruto's frown had become comically severe as Shikamaru spoke.

"That's not a fight!" He protested. "That's just, y'know. Some discipline." Shikamaru's expression was indescribably blank.

"_That_ was discipline?" He asked.

"Ah! The Suna delegation is here! Gotta run!" Naruto said suddenly, grabbing his hat off the rack on his way to the window and then leaping out with a swirl of wind.

"Unbelievable," Shikamaru muttered. How Naruto _still_ managed to act so troublesome sometimes was both infuriating and infuriatingly _amusing_. He smirked in spite of himself.

At least he was never bored.

—

When Naruto had gotten home that night, he was still deep in thought about what he could do about this new... _problem_. He couldn't just let it be. He couldn't let the same thing happen to anyone else. _Ever_.

It wasn't until after Sakura broke up a fight between two of his daughters and he'd tucked them safely into bed that he had finally decided what needed to be done. It was with a heavy heart that he stepped out of his home late that night into the cold air, his feet taking him the long, painful mile back to the Hokage Tower.

It was time to say goodbye to his oldest friend.

* * *

><p>so who hates me for this chapter right now<p>

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	9. That Jutsu, Part 2

Here it is! The startling conclusion. So as of now, I think I have about 4 days' worth of chapters left. Thankfully that'll bring me into the weekend, but I have a VERY busy and stressed few weeks coming up and will have a hard time writing. For this reason, I may miss a day sometime in the next few weeks. I'm going to do EVERYTHING I CAN not to because this is supposed to be a daily fanfiction for the whole month. I really want to achieve my goal! But just a little forewarning. Once again, prompts, ideas, suggestions, etc are always appreciated.

Also, thanks for your reviews!

I forgot to mention this last chapter, so I'll mention it here: a big thanks once again to **Namikaze-Hime** for the name Taijo. :) Thanks!

* * *

><p>Sakura awakened in the middle of the night, immediately sensing something was wrong. She strained her ears in case one of her children was crying out for her, but there was nothing of the sort. She wondered drowsily what had stirred her and, by instinct, groped softly for Naruto's hand. Instead, she was met with an empty set of sheets... that were cool to the touch.<p>

She realized, as the sleep fell away from her brain, that she couldn't sense his chakra in the house at all.

And that was how Sakura, after doing a brief check on her children, found herself walking through the streets of Konoha at nearly two in the morning wearing only a jacket and her favorite winter pajamas. It had always been the kind of village that rolled up the sidewalks at night, but that was doubly true when the weather was as bitter as tonight. There was not a single other soul awake.

As she neared the Hokage Tower, she began to feel the brush of her soulmate's familiar chakra, but she realized after entering that he was not in his office. Instead, she found Naruto sitting in the archives of the tower, staring at a large scroll in front of him.

"What's going on?" she asked as she entered the room, rubbing the cold from her arms. He lifted his head only marginally to gaze at her.

"I didn't mean for you to wake up, Sakura-chan," he said softly, his features somber. He looked tired.

She responded with a concerned shake of her head. Then, with a voice hushed despite there being no one else present to disturb, she asked: "Why are you here?" She approached but still gave him space, unsure what to make of this quite yet. He inhaled deeply, leaning back in his chair, and then sighed the massive breath out slowly, eyes closed.

"Konohamaru's gonna kill me," he said, his lips twisted into a wry, defeated smile. Then he shook his head. "Never thought I'd see this day."

"See what day?" She felt a prickle of anger in the back of her mind, but the whole situation was too mysterious to act brash. "Naruto, what's going on?" She asked instead, her voice still concerned. He sighed again, this time with a little more finality, and then he leaned forward and placed his hand on the scroll almost mournfully.

That wry smile was back on his lips as he spoke. "I... declared Oiroke no Jutsu a kinjutsu."

Sakura froze. A cold shiver ran up her spine.

"What?" She asked, unable to process the words. Then, her expression distorting with concern and disbelief, she tilted her head, nose wrinkling. "Are you _sick?_" It was only now that she moved forward, leaning over the desk and the scroll to place a hand on his forehead. "_Are_ you sick, Naruto?" He shook his head slowly, grimly. "Then this must be a dream," she said, pinching her cheek. "A _wonderful _dream." Now it was his turn to make a face.

"Sakura-chan, I know it's hard to believe, but c'mon." He pouted a little. "It was really hard to do y'know. And just cuz you don't like it, doesn't mean it's _all _bad. It can be pretty useful. Plus it was the first jutsu I ever created!" He smiled proudly, then sighed again and ran his hand along the scroll almost lovingly.

"Wait, wait. You're serious. You're _really_ serious." Despite her statement, she still looked as though she thoroughly doubted it.

"Is it really _that _hard to believe?" He asked, his expression flat.

"Yes." She quipped back so quickly that it was almost an interruption. He wasn't amused by her continued shock, but he took the opportunity to pick up the scroll, place it back on the shelf where it belonged, and shrug his hokage coat back on all before she was ready to stop him. He was hoping he could have gotten out the door as well, but that was asking too much. "Wait." Her voice commanded just before he made it to the threshold. He stopped and, against his better judgment, waited with perfect patience for her to pace forward and stand between him and the doorway.

"Yes Dear?" He asked.

"Don't '_Yes Dear_' me. Were you really just planning to leave without explaining this?" She demanded. His hand found its way to the back of his head.

"Maybe." He offered, shrugging with a big helpless grin.

"Well, no. You're going to tell me why you suddenly decided to make your disturbed crossdressing jutsu forbidden." She crossed her arms with a smug smile when his eyes shot wide.

"It-It's not—It's _tactical!_" he shouted back.

"Well whatever it is, you love it, don't you? So tell me who to send the thank you card to." He was still fuming at her as she laid the sarcasm on, her smirk growing. Then he snorted.

"It's hokage stuff, Sakura-chan. It's none of your business." He knew it was a mistake even as it tumbled out of his mouth, and he cringed backward from her immediately.

"None..." She spoke through her teeth. "Of my business?" She stepped forward. He stepped backward.

"S-Sakura-chan, that's not what I m—"

"You are my _husband_." She seethed, continuing to pursue him. He had reached the end of the line, bumping into a desk at the back of the room. With no more steps to take, he leaned backward until he was almost lying on it when she reached him. "Your business is _my _business." Her hand darted forward suddenly and she grabbed him by the ear, making him yowl, and pulled him forward so that he was bending uncomfortably to look her in the eye. "Is that clear, Naruto?" He gulped.

"Yes Dear," he said. She let go, then rubbed his ear with some healing chakra and a motherly tut-tut of her tongue—as though the fact that it was red and slightly swollen had nothing to do with her. Then she surprised him with a very unexpected and _very_ welcome kiss. "Wow," he whispered, blinking when she'd pulled back with a smile.

"Is that encouragement enough?" She asked, tracing his whiskers with her fingertips.

"About half," he said. With a quiet laugh, she raised up on her toes and kissed him again. His hands wrapped around her middle, then slowly, very slowly lowered until they were on her buttocks. She rolled her eyes and ended the kiss a second time.

"Pervert," she murmured with a smirk. "How do you like it?" She grabbed his in return and squeezed.

"Yah!" He jumped. "S-Sakura-chan, you can't do that!"

"Of course I can." She purred. "Especially in one of the few moments we can get without little ones around." When she winked, Naruto got very, _very _excited. It looked like tonight didn't have to be so bad after all. He glanced around. There was a desk, and, uhh... well, the desk would have to do. Her hands were up under his shirt now, and he was smiling goofily in his excitement, trying to get his white hokage coat back off.

"Now tell me," she said as she unzipped his orange and black jacket, "why the biggest pervert I know is making his favorite perverted jutsu forbidden." And he stopped. He just stopped. Naruto's smile dissolved once again, and his expression became almost hollow. He placed his hands on Sakura's shoulders and very gently pushed her back, away from him. "What? Naru-"

"Sorry. You kinda killed it," he interrupted, shaking his head mournfully. "Sorry," he repeated with a sigh. "I can't even think about it, Sakura-chan. _Especially_ not like this." And now she looked really annoyed.

"Okay, _spill_. What is this. What _is_ this? What is going on with you? It's one thing to get rid of your perverted jutsu, but now you're—no, _no_." She gestured angrily, cutting her hands through the air. "No, you _got rid of your perverted jutsu_. That's enough. Just tell me. _What is going on?_" With her hands on her hips, Sakura glared up at him.

"Sakura-chan, I really don't want to talk about it. Can you just be okay with that?" He rubbed the back of his neck.

"No." She stated firmly without a spot of hesitation. He blinked.

"You could always, you know, think about it for a second before answering."

"Oh, okay," she said, dialing up the irony in her voice to levels that made him wince. "Okay. **No**." Her foot started tapping the floor. Naruto threw his arms in the air, defeated.

"Fine!" He said loudly. Then he took a deep breath. "ShinachikutaughtTaijothesexyjutsuandtodaytheyshowedittomeand_ISAWMYMOMNAKEDWHYDIDHEHAVETOLOOKLIKEMEWITHMOM'SHAIRSAKURA-CHANWHY_" he shouted the response in a jumble of words and finished, panting, with his hands out before him as though pleading with some deity above.

"What." Sakura said. "I didn't even understand that. Say it again, Naruto. Slowly." He gave her the most hurt, betrayed look of shock she had ever seen. She wondered briefly if she were pushing him too hard, but she stood firm. Despite all the cajoling, she truly was concerned.

He took one more deep breath.

"Shinachiku taught Taijo the sexy jutsu," Sakura's expression became murder almost instantly, but she nodded for him to continue anyway. He eyed the white knuckles of her clenched fist hesitantly before he did. "Today they showed it to me, and..." He swallowed, closing his eyes to slits and looking as though he'd eaten something foul. "And you know how Taijo has my face but with straight red hair, right?" She nodded, raising an eyebrow. He was hoping she'd come to the conclusion on her own—so he wouldn't have to say it again. Unfortunately, she continued to gaze at him expectantly. He made a frustrated noise. "And-I-saw-my-mom-naked-okay." He spat, speeding through the words again, although this time he did it a _little _less quickly. His expression was an agonized wince. Then he slowly raised his hands and slapped them onto his face, moaning. "Why..." He groaned.

"Pff," Sakura pressed a set of fingertips to her lips, trying not to smile. It failed. "**AHAHAHAHAHA!**" She cackled, doubling over.

"Sak—Sakura-ch—Sa—" Naruto pleaded, trying to get a word in, but her howling laughter interrupted him all over again every time he thought he'd found an opening. He could only put up with it for so long before he stomped his foot down angrily.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" He shouted, trying to outmatch her voice. She seemed to get the message then, her laughter calming into an almost drunken sounding giggle after a while. She wiped her tears away merrily while he fumed, his fists balled at his sides.

"Oh, oh my gosh," she said, still trying to catch her breath. "Oh Naruto, no. No, it's _really funny_." She laughed again, though not quite as hard as before. On the contrary, Naruto looked as though he were about to burst an aneurysm, his face red and the veins in his neck prominent.

"Sakura-chan, it was _Mom_! My _mom_! I can't—why!" In a flash, all of his anger was replaced with anguish once again, and he threw his arms around her and began sobbing onto her shoulder.

"Oh come _on_ Naruto. So you saw your mother—and it wasn't even really her, by the way—naked." She rolled her eyes, although she was rubbing his back consolingly and pressing her cheek against his hair. "You really made it a forbidden jutsu because of _that_?" He leapt back, wiping his tears off on his sleeve and grabbing her by the shoulders.

"You don't understand, Sakura-chan! I can't let this happen to anyone else. Never! I mean, can you imagine if—I used to—all over Konoha—and—"

"Naruto!" She said, pressing her index finger against his nose to stop him. "Speak clearly." He sighed in agony.

"Sakura-chan, _if I had been born with red hair_." He whined, letting the words sink in.

"But you weren't." She said flatly. "Honestly, Naruto. I don't want to complain about you making that awful jutsu a kinjutsu, but this is a serious overreac—"

"_What if we have a pink-haired son?_" He spat as a last resort. Sakura's eyes snapped open wide and her body went rigid.

"Lock the scroll away," she hissed.

"It won't take care of Shinachiku and Konohamaru, you know," he lamented.

"_I'll_ take care of them." She said, cracking her knuckles.

Naruto had never felt so bad for anyone before.

* * *

><p><strong>Chronological ArcChapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	10. Every Family Has One, Part 1

This was actually one of the first pieces I wrote for this fic. I have a lot of love for this little lady. Probably a little too much. I can't wait to write her when she's a little older and getting into the action—I think you guys will love her too. :')

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><p>She was fourteen, and she <em>still <em>hadn't had a mission across the border. This was frustrating beyond all belief for the loud, unpredictable, blonde-haired, blue-eyed kunoichi with seemingly no shred of fear in her body, but she had to sit tight, listening over and over as her parents recited the tale of "The C-Rank gone wrong," also known as "The Story of Zabuza."

When Minako had been young, this story was _exactly_ the reason she wanted to go on missions outside the country as soon as her feet could take her there. Pity that this story was also _exactly_ the reason she did not get her wish.

Of course, being Minako, that did not stop her from trying. Getting grounded from missions altogether was about the only thing that stopped her continuous attempts to smuggle herself out with other teams on their own missions. And even then, it had only stopped her after she'd been grounded enough to miss out on over half her genin's teams missions in a year's time, leading to her jounin instructor nominating her two genin team mates—and _not_ her— for the Chuunin Exams.

_Dad_ understood her and suggested that her skills had been honed with her family for so long that perhaps, even without the missions backing her, she could qualify for the exams. Her _mother_, however, remained adamant that Minako was not ready. She had to "experience natural life lessons" and was still "too immature," which made Minako realize that the truly immature one here was her big idiot jerk mother.

After that natural lesson, her attempts to explore the outside world slowed down considerably.

But they never quite stopped.

Both Dad and Oniisan were particularly impressed when she managed to hitch a ride with an Inuzuka genin who had accidentally picked her henged form up instead of his _actual _medical pack that morning. She'd gotten all the way to the coast, where they were to board a ship bound for Kumogakure. What had stopped her journey overseas was not poor skill in suppressing her chakra signature but, as always, poor _attitude_. In her impatience with the Inuzuka who was scrambling to find his papers, she'd transformed back into herself, dug them out of his sack, thrown them into his face, and then punched him—all while berating him for being so disorganized.

That had gone over very poorly with their jounin instructor. It had also gone over very poorly with the Inuzuka, who now had no medical pack with which to treat his bloody nose. She'd been grounded from missions for two months after that.

So it was with extreme caution that Naruto and Sakura watched their very excited fourteen-year-old daughter prepare for her first mission abroad. Her new team (since her first set of team mates had moved on to chuunin status quite some time ago) consisted of a plump young platinum blonde girl of the Yamanaka and Akimichi clans, a quiet, serious boy who'd been second in his class despite having civilian parents, and Rock Lee, their jounin instructor. Minako was the oldest of the three genin, a full two years their senior.

"She's such a good nin, but I still don't know if she's ready," Sakura said quietly through her teeth as she smiled, trying to avoid Minako hearing her or reading her lips. Next to her, Naruto shrugged.

"She has the skill to be a chuunin already." He said in response, not lowering his voice as much as Sakura would have liked. Thankfully, Minako was too busy digging under her messy bed for her special kunai, the one Naruto had given her on her seventh birthday. Her first ninja tool.

"Her skills are great and have been for years, but she's _so _reckless," Sakura said, intending her daughter to hear this time. Her voice had taken on the edge of worry that Minako hated so much, and as if on cue, her head shot up from under the bed as she gave her mother a comically emphatic glare. Her short, blonde pigtails bounced with the jerking movement. With a snort, she buried herself back into the mess under her bed.

"I was too, Sakura-chan." Naruto grinned proudly.

"You had Kurama." She argued back. Then: "How many times? Honestly, how many times would you have died if it weren't for Kurama?" In the back of his mind, Naruto felt his ever-present companion bristle with pride, and the platonic fondness Kurama felt for Sakura washed over him in an odd way so that he felt two sets of emotions toward her simultaneously. Naruto encountered this problem only occasionally with his strong link to Kurama. Most of the time, having an open, empathic link to his bijuu partner had far more benefits than risks, but there was a line to be drawn.

Looking at his wife and finding her to be an "acceptable human thing" as she disrobed one night was just one example of where that line became _absolutely imperative_.

Annoyed with the connection at present, he severed it and pushed Kurama further back in his mind, hearing a low, amused chuckle issue forth in response.

"Don't feed his ego." Was what he quipped at her irately, the meaning of their argument already forgotten.

"YES!" Minako cried suddenly, stopping Sakura just as she opened her mouth to comment further. "Found it! Phew, I thought my baby got kidnapped!" She cradled the dirty, nicked up kunai to her cheek and then kissed it.

"Minako, don't put your _mouth_ on that filthy thing." Sakura said, palm to her forehead and her lips twisted in disgust. "Do you have any idea how many microbes could be on there right now?" Minako stroked the thing, not regarding her mother in the least.

"Don't listen to her, baby. She just wants to hurt your feelings because that's the kind of nasty old hag she is." She cooed sweetly. Sakura's eyebrow twitched, and Naruto found himself suddenly grabbing her hand to squeeze in placation.

"Uh... we should have lunch before you go!" He burst out suddenly, turning to march toward the kitchen but stopping when his connection to Sakura's hand jerked him to a sudden halt. She stood like an immovable object, her brow dipped low over her eyes in anger.

"Minako..." She whispered, lips curling into an unamused, manic smile. "You will show respect to your mother, or you will wait another month to go on a mission like this." Naruto dropped his wife's hand and gestured at Minako, desperately attempting to garner her compliance. She rolled her eyes, arms crossed and stance confrontational. He was secretly glad when the cry of a baby several rooms away started up. He didn't wait to see what would happen between the two women of his life.

It was just two or so minutes later as he was finishing up with the diaper change that Minako stalked by the door behind him, muttering unhappily but otherwise submissive. Apparently she'd get to keep her mission this time.

* * *

><p><strong>Chronological ArcChapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)** * You Are Here**  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	11. Every Family Has One, Part 2

Aahhh! So busy right now ;-; this chapter is fairly short because I think I need to stretch some of my plots a bit in order to keep my updates daily. Sorry about that! I had planned to extend it a little, but then I didn't have the time today. Tomorrow will be a bit similar, unfortunately, but I hope to be ready to write again by Sunday!

* * *

><p>"You have spoiled her completely rotten," Sakura told him angrily. It was just hours after Minako had left on her mission abroad. Naruto had a shadow clone completing paper work up in the hokage tower, and he took this chance to sit quietly with his wife on a park bench. They watched as a tangle of kids played on the jungle gym, showing off their rudimentary shinobi skills and playing make believe ninja war. Three of those kids were Uzumaki, teamed together against an Uchiha and a couple of Nara.<p>

"She's a good kid, Sakura-chan," he said with a sigh, tired of a conversation they'd had several times before.

"No, you're completely blind to the problem. I think you see yourself in her too much, and it's stopping you from treating her fairly. Just because you turned out okay, it doesn't mean she should get the same amount of freedom you had." She was using a mom tone on him, which he didn't much like. He shook his head, then placed his chin into his palms and gazed up at her.

"She just wants attention." He said. "She's not being a delinquent or betraying the village or anything," he smiled foxlike at her eyeroll. The at-least-they're-better-than-Sasuke argument was a running joke between them (usually at the Uchiha's expense), but she was too agitated in her concern for their daughter to find it funny right now. "You need to just let her be herself." He added. Their littlest one shifted in Sakura's arms and yawned widely, pausing the conversation and bringing warm smiles to both their faces. Then Sakura sighed.

"No," she said, letting her head drop so that her hair covered her face from him. "No, Naruto, _you're_ the one who needs to let her be herself. She wants to be you so badly. Every time you tell her some grandiose story of you and the gang getting into—and out of—trouble, her eyes light up with all the wrong ideas. You seem to miss how much she wants to prove herself to you, the stupid little risks she takes for no reason other than to make you look at her, and she's going to get herself killed if she keeps trying." Sakura said, anxiety creeping into a voice that she tried hard to keep strong. The stunts Minako had pulled on past missions were testament to her words _and _her worry; their daughter had already been carted home on more than one occasion with her arms and legs twisted in all the wrong directions.

"She's already growing out of that," he said, taking a risk with his flippant tone. Sakura's fist clenched, and she gave him a pretty serious glare, but she left it at that with a sigh of resignation.

"I really hope you're right." She murmured.

"I am! I'm her father, you know? You'll see, Sakura-chan. This mission will go over without a hitch. She'll be a little angel out there." He was grinning so confidently that Sakura felt herself believing him for one second before remembering exactly who they were talking about. Angel was hardly the word to use here. Even so, she _had _been a _little _better lately. She sighed and leaned to rest her head on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her protectively. The sun sank closer to the horizon and painted the clouds pinks and oranges, and reluctantly the two broke their embrace and called their children in to head for home.

Only six more days before they would find out if Naruto was right or not.

* * *

><p><strong>Chronological ArcChapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)** * You Are Here**  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	12. Every Family Has One, Part 3

Ah, and once again we have a conclusion to one of the plots! :) Okay so tomorrow I am going to try to write a LOT. ;-; I have a bunch of ideas I think I can put into words, but once again I would REALLY appreciate any prompts you guys can offer. Any tiny ideas will do. Seriously, they are helpful! I already got one in a review that I love and kind of want to try working with in some way (but maybe a bit differently) xP If that gives you guys a spoiler... (BUT I'M NOT SURE!)

* * *

><p>Minako sprinted all the way home, leaping from one rooftop to the next in her hurry. She had just shown her father her newest acquisition, and while he was busy finishing up a conversation with someone-or-other-who's-important from someplace-or-other-that's-important, she intended to get home before him and show her mother as well. "<em>Uh, don't—don't show Mom just yet,<em>" he had said, scratching his cheek and trying to pay attention to both her and the delegates in his office equally. She had agreed cheerfully with her fingers crossed behind her back and then leapt back out the window. If it weren't for those delegates, he probably would have been hurrying home as well right now.

"Mooooom! I'm back!" She called out into the large, open home. She heard her mother's call from somewhere across the house—to tell her to wait, she was busy—and threw her arms in the air with an exasperated moan. Her seven-year-old sister Yuu looked up from some toy dolls wearing frilly dresses to regard her with an adorably skeptical frown before shrugging.

"Neechan is _so_ weird," she told her doll, whom she then shook up and down to form a nod of agreement. With a frown, Minako jumped to the floor on her hands and knees, eye level with the tiny blonde. Then she grinned and picked up one of the dolls.

"No, _I'm_ weird for wearing a dress like this when it'll only get in the way of my missions!" Minako parroted in a high-pitched voice, shaking the doll.

"Ugh! Tsubaki, all you ever think about are missions! Missions, missions, missions!" Yuu had her doll respond, and then, like always, their doll-play devolved into a taijutsu battle with poor Tsubaki getting tangled in her dress every step of the way. Yuu was reduced to giggles. This was the state that Sakura found the two in, and she couldn't help but let a proud smile ease onto her face. Minako looked to be in one piece—not a scratch visible on her this time. Naruto was right. She was growing out of it, wasn't she?

"How did the mission go, Sweetheart?" Sakura asked.

"Great! We even finished it early, and we got some free time, and _look what I got!_" She cried happily, jumping up in her excitement and pointing both index fingers to her cheeks. Sakura's eyes widened. Three black whisker marks were drawn onto each cheek to match Naruto's, but around them her skin was red and irritated.

"Oh my gosh, you need to—Minako, wash that off right now. You're having an allergic reaction to whatever that was drawn with." She rushed forward, running a thumb along her right cheek and feeling the welts of raised skin along each line. She retracted her hand to lick her thumb, but before she could rub it on Minako's cheek, the girl jumped backward to perch carefully atop the back of the couch.

"Mom, don't _touch_ them. You'll mess up how they heal!" She whined, gingerly poking the whiskers her mother had just touched.

"How they_... heal?"_ Sakura repeated quietly, suddenly realizing what those might be. But no. Never. Not on her face. Lee never would have let her... _Lee wouldn't have even noticed_. Her thoughts quickly turned from disbelief to anger. "Are those..." She started, unable to make her mouth form the word. She wouldn't have. Not on her face.

"The _best tattoo ever?_ YUP! Now _everyone, _all over the world will know that I am daughter of the great Uzumaki Naruto!" She stood atop the couch and took a triumphant pose with her arms in the air, a wide grin on her face. On. her. _FACE_. Sakura was speechless.

"You got a tattoo." She said, voice tremblingly low. Yuu had watched the entire exchange quietly and was now collecting all of her dolls into her arms and departing from the room. "On your face." Her voice was so quiet it was just above a whisper.

"Dad likes it." Minako said, her grin quickly becoming a scowl, then morphing fluidly into a smirk. "And it's not like you ever let me do anything anyway. I've been saving up for these babies for _years._" She could see her mother's shoulders begin to tremble, and for the first time in her life, she suddenly believed that she might have done something she'd _actually _regret. But Minako was not one to run from a fight, ever. That was her ninja way. She hopped off the couch and squared her shoulders, waiting with a surprising amount of patience for her mother's outburst. But it never came. Sakura slowly lowered her chin until her bangs covered her eyes from Minako, and then she quietly stepped from the room.

Minako heaved a sigh of relief bigger than a Yamanaka's ego.

Then Naruto stepped in the door. He gave a half-hearted smile to his daughter and hurried straight past her through the door that Sakura had disappeared behind.

"_You._" She said to him, raising her head just enough so one of her eyes glinted dangerously at him through her hair. "We need to talk. Somewhere private." She hissed, her voice seething with so much anger that it was barely escaping from between her clenched teeth.

"S-Sa-Sakura-chan, I'm sure—"

"Now." Her voice, quiet as it was, cowed the hokage into silence. Her fists were trembling at her sides, knuckles white.

"Wh-where do you want to—"

"Just... pick me up. And _take me somewhere._" He didn't miss how hard she was working to keep it in. He lifted her bridal style, her body stiff in his arms, and felt exactly as though he were carrying a bomb.

"Minako, watch the babies for us, would you?" He said, smiling reassuringly as he passed her on his way to the door. Her nervous expression gave away just how much his grin had failed.

Then he departed, taking his wife as far away from Konoha as he could in the seconds he had left on her ticking clock.

—

Sakura was home after just a few hours, back to her normal routine. She grounded Minako, picked up her academy-aged children from their day at school, took care of the baby, and otherwise kept the Uzumaki household in order.

The village, on the other hand, had to make due without a hokage for two days. It somehow managed.

Then everything was back to normal.

Except now there were two loud, unpredictable, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, _whisker-cheeked_ shinobi in Konoha.

* * *

><p>The idea for this chapter actually came to me when I thought about the fact that Naruto's kids probably (sadly) won't have whiskers on their cheeks. That made me sad, so I came up with the idea of his kid—or who knows, maybe kid<em><strong>s <strong>_getting them tattooed on instead by choice. Ahaha! I'm sure Sakura will come to love them! ...but it might take a while.

If you're curious about what happens out in the woods, I've reworked that part a few times and decided to save it to post as a separate chapter some other time (possibly tomorrow, but I doubt it). It was just one of those scenes that doesn't want to happen quite right no matter how hard you think about it. Blah!

Thanks for the reviews once again, and see you tomorrow!

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)** * You Are Here**  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	13. The Godfathers, Part 1

This one was supposed to be a true oneshot like my earliest chapters were, but once again I overwrote (and once again AGAIN, I am strapped for time ;-;). I hope to be able to have some longer chapters later.

I've been getting some phenomenal ideas via review lately. I hope those keep coming. I'm already planning some chapters based on a few I've gotten. :) And I will credit people who give me ideas for sure!

* * *

><p>"I think Ino and Chouji should be his godparents," Sakura said as they relaxed on the couch together one night.<p>

"Okay," Naruto responded tiredly. He'd just gotten back from a four-day, time-sensitive reconnaissance mission that had afforded him very little sleep. Even so, he had adamantly refused to go straight to bed in favor of lying on the couch with his head in Sakura's lap. She threaded her fingers through his hair as she stroked it, watching his eyes slowly blink open and shut. She sighed with a shake of her head and a small smile.

"But if you want, you can choose who his godfather will be," she added, unsure if he were even hearing her anymore. He answered in a slow, serene voice.

"Ah, thanks Sakura-chan. Godfather, hm?" Jiraiya's face floated through his mind, and he smiled in reminiscence. "I have a few people in mind."

"Did you have a godfather?" His eyes opened and stayed open after she asked, and he turned his head slightly.

"Ero sennin. I never told you that?" His eyes slid shut again as he spoke, his voice slurring with exhaustion.

"Figures." She muttered. Then: "You need to go to bed, Naruto." She said it softly, shifting so that he would sit up.

"Are you coming?" He asked through a yawn.

"In a little bit I will. I have to run something to Ino tonight." His face fell, and she gave a quiet, amused snort.

"It can't wait?" He continued to pout even as she ran her thumbs over his whiskers and kissed him.

"No, it's perishable. Just go to bed. I'll be there before you know it." She said, letting her hands drop so they were pressed to his chest. He took the chance to hug her, but in his clumsy exhaustion, it was far more bear-like than he had intended. "It was just four days." Her muffled voice floated to his ears from somewhere below.

"There's two of you to miss now," he said, sounding oddly serious for a second before his voice was back to normal. "That's double the missing I have to do." He chuckled and then allowed her to step back (and breathe), and kissed her on the forehead. "Come back fast." He said. She nodded and then gave him a backhanded tap on the arm when he finally turned and stumbled groggily into their bedroom.

By the time she'd gotten back, he was in a deep sleep. She curled herself around him, relishing being big spoon for once, and fell asleep as well.

—

Seven months later, Sakura found herself resting on that same couch, but this time a new someone was sleepily gazing up at her. It was just a month after Shinachiku's birth, and he was already an energetic baby. It had been challenging to get her rest even with Naruto handling roughly half of the child-rearing duties. At this point, she was pleased to see her husband so incredibly happy. But that didn't make it any less annoying that he dragged half of Konoha into his home to see his new child (Because Sakura didn't approve of Shinachiku getting toted around the village at such a young age, naturally).

She sighed for the 18th time that day when Ino, Chouji, Kiba, Hinata, and Shikamaru walked in bearing gifts of diapers and baby food.

"Oh, thank you," she said, changing her tune very quickly when she saw the gifts of good will. "Those are more helpful than you could imagine." She nodded at the diapers.

"Chouji insisted we bring food even though he's not eating yet." Ino said, rolling her visible eye. Sakura smiled gratefully at Chouji.

"Is Naruto not with you?" She asked. Ino gave a second eyeroll, but before she could comment, Kiba cut in.

"That idiot grabbed us all and told us to walk right in and give you this junk, then he said he had an appointment with the hokage." He said, digging in his ear with a long fingernail. Then he glanced at it to see what kind of treasure he'd unearthed.

"Kiba-kun" Hinata offered in quiet disapproval. He grinned sheepishly and wiped his finger on his pants, to which she sighed. Meanwhile, Ino was still looking utterly annoyed about Sakura's question.

"Really. You two are like completely inseparable. And now you have a kid, too." She huffed, amusing Sakura with her continued jealousy. Ever since she had gotten pregnant, Ino had been oddly jealous of anyone who received her time and attention, especially Naruto and Hana. It had even extended to Shinachiku, to some extent.

"Stuff it, Ino-pig. It's just that he's usually at the _lead _of all the overbearing guests." Sakura responded coldly. In her arms, Shinachiku gave a small yawn. Ino's retort died in her throat at the exact same time as a smile appeared on her face.

"He's so cuuuuuute!" She squealed far too loudly. Shinachiku blinked widely at his mother, as though she had caused this disturbance somehow. Ino turned to Kiba then, her expression flat. "Kiba, this is your first chance to meet him and you haven't even said hi." Ino shoved him forward so that he almost landed on top of Sakura. His face was right in front of the baby when Shikamaru caught him with his shadow imitation jutsu. The two stared at each other with wide eyes.

Then Shinachiku reached out and placed two of his tiny fingers into Kiba's left nostril.

"Oh my," Hinata said, her lips wobbling into a smile that she was trying so hard to prevent.

Kiba's eyes widened furiously and he immediately began trying to snort the little fingers from his nose, but he was otherwise frozen by the shadow imitation jutsu.

"Shikamaru, you better release your jutsu right now and I'll kick your ass." He growled angrily.

"Don't you mean '_or else_'?" Shikamaru asked, eyebrow raised.

"I MEANT WHAT I SAID!" Kiba howled. Shinachiku's eyes grew wide at the startling voice in his face, but then he simply smiled.

"Ino!" Sakura said suddenly, pointing across the room. "My camera! Hurry!" She tried to keep her voice moderately calm so Shinachiku wouldn't get distracted from the wonderful moment he was creating, but he seemed completely engrossed in Kiba's face as a new plaything.

"Aaaa" he babbled with a smile as he reached for Kiba's lips.

"No! Peh, sto-_PLEH_, _stop that!_" He cried angrily, making Shinachiku giggle amicably.

Ino was snapping photos liberally as soon as she was back, infuriating Kiba further.

"This angle is good too," Chouji casually offered between crunching on some snack he'd brought. Ino rushed around the couch to snap photos from the other side, her trench coat flapping in her wake.

She only got one more photo before Shinachiku decided he was bored of Kiba's face. His hands shot for his mouth almost immediately, but Sakura caught them.

"Oh no," she tutted. "No dog germs in your mouth, Darling." She stood then, taking him to wash his pudgy little hands off. Shikamaru released the jutsu unexpectedly, sending Kiba crashing into the now-empty couch.

"YOU COULDDA WARNED ME." He shouted angrily, wiping his mouth and nose in his sleeve furiously until Hinata produced a handkerchief for him.

Sakura was drying the baby's hands off, enjoying the company despite her constant exhaustion. That is, she _was_ until something Kiba said made her freeze.

"I can't believe I agreed to be that brat's godfather." He muttered angrily. Sakura whipped around just in time to catch Ino and Chouji's confused frowns.

"What do you mean? Chouji is his godfather, idiot." Ino said, flicking him on the forehead. He gave her a petulant glare.

"No way. Naruto asked me." Kiba threw back, thumbing his puffed up chest.

"Well... Sakura asked us." Chouji said as Ino and Kiba glared at one another, foreheads pressed together. They stopped and, along with everyone else present, turned their attention to the surprised looking Sakura.

"Naruto asked you, Kiba?" She asked, her voice quiet.

"Actually... what a troublesome guy." Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head. "He asked me, too." Sakura blinked a few more times.

Then her hand balled into a fist.

* * *

><p>So if Naruto or Sakura seem a little OOC in this chapter or the continuation of it tomorrow, it's intentional. There's a piece that I have been fighting with for at least 3 weeks now that addresses them getting through a fragile time in Naruto's life. (It's kind of the sister-plot to my earlier piece about Sakura struggling over her self-consciousness demon.) I don't know when THAT plot will be done, since it's been causing me trouble since the very beginning, but I'll do my best to get it out soon so it can be read with this fresh in mind.<p>

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)** * You Are Here**  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	14. The Godfathers, Part 2

Phew! Sorry for the late update. I was just extremely busy yesterday and extremely tired by the time I got home. Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews yet again!

Also! Everyone is picking out the KibaHina from the last chapter, but I really didn't intend it to come across as strictly romantic! I have a headcanon in which he becomes such best friends with her that the Hyuuga clan has to deal with his obnoxious, uncouth self all the time. I don't really know if they get together or not—I am really hoping that Kishimoto will give us an idea who Hinata will end up with in The Last because I cannot really picture her with any of the main guys very easily at all. If you want this fic to have KibaHina, that's cool. If you'd rather them be friends, that's kind of what I was leaving it open for.

I mean you gotta admit, it would be pretty hilarious for him to be her bff who gets jealous and (just a little) possessive whenever some other guy shows interest in her. OKAY GUYS MAYBE I'M KIND OF SHIPPING KIBAHINA SUDDENLY BECAUSE THEN HE'D REALIZE THAT HE REALLY LIKES HER AND WOULD START TRYING TO WOO HER BUT FAIL THE WHOLE TIME BECAUSE HE'S SO UNCOOL AND IT WOULD BE REALLY CUTE? HELP.

* * *

><p>Naruto could not wait to get out of the office. His leg had maintained a continuous quaking for the last thirty or so minutes as he felt his friends, one after another, gather at his home. He had long since come to the only logical conclusion: there was a party going on, and he needed to be there.<p>

He had spent the last fifteen minutes musing over what the party was for and why it seemed to be missing most of the girls.

"-to. Naruto." He looked expectantly up to Kakashi-sensei at the call of his name.

"Yeah?" He asked attentively, as though it'd cover up the fact that he hadn't been listening for the last however-many-minutes. Kakashi sighed.

"Nevermind, you're too distracted right now. We'll talk about this later." He said. Naruto looked startled, then pleased.

"You sure? Cuz I don't wanna..." He was already getting up and rolling his scroll back together messily in his delighted haste.

"I'm sure." Kakashi muttered resignedly. Naruto was already gone.

He burst in the door to his home excitedly and marched into the overfilled living room. Then, catching a glimpse of Sakura's murder-bent expression, he immediately made a loop and began to march right back toward the door again.

"Naruto." She commanded his name like one might talk to their disobedient pet dog. He froze and turned to look at her, a nervous smile plastered onto his face.

"Sakura-chan. What's the, uh, party for?" He swallowed. "Guys, hi" he said, waving stiffly at them while Sakura slowly approached him, the killing intent around her palpable. She had left Shinachiku in Ino's arms. This couldn't be good.

"The _party,_ Naruto, is for Shinachiku's godparents. You know, Ino and _half of Konoha's shinobi_?" Naruto's expression changed immediately then. He blinked in surprise, then broke out in an actual grin.

"Oh!" He said, beaming. "Good! So is this like a godparent thing? Wait, should I go bring Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei too, then?"

"You... you asked _them_ too?" She asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, why not? Oh and there were a few others. But some of 'em are in Suna..." He frowned at that. He started to shift as though he were leaving, then he paused. "Wait, tell me why you're mad." He requested, concern creeping onto his features. Sakura still had no words. She was still stuck on how he didn't seem to realize what was wrong here.

The sound of someone behind her slapping their forehead brought her out of her stupor.

"Naruto," she started slowly, "Shinachiku is only supposed to have _one_ godfather."

He blinked several times in silence and scanned the room full of people. Over there were Chouji, Kiba, Shino, and Shikamaru. On this side were Sai, Sasuke, and Konohamaru. Rock Lee was doing pushups. And he was supposed to pick just _one_?

"Well that's dumb." He stated matter-of-factly, hands lacing on the back of his head. He gave her an irritated look. "Is that why you're mad? That doesn't even make sense. He could learn all kinds of stuff from all of them! Plus, this way he'll never have to be alone!" He grinned and then carefully stepped past her, but only when he was sure she wouldn't punch him through the wall. He greeted his friends again (with thoroughly unreturned excitement) and gathered his baby from Ino's arms.

Shinachiku happily pawed at his face.

"Geez, you don't even know what a godparent _is_, do you Naruto-niichan?" Konohamaru asked with an amused shake of his head.

"Hey! Don't act all high and mighty! I just got done teaching _you _about—" Konohamaru suddenly bolted over the couch, diving through both Chouji and Shikamaru in order to clap his hand over Naruto's mouth before he could finish the sentence. He laughed nervously as Naruto leveled him with narrowed eyes.

"Not the place," his words uneasily sang out from clenched teeth. Then he backed away, face still red, and jogged to the Uzumaki kitchen, laughing with embarrassment all the way.

Sakura looked curious for a second, and she almost asked. _Almost_. But then she quickly decided that she didn't want to know. What she did want to know, however, was why Konohamaru seemed to know his way around their kitchen so well. And why he thought it was okay to raid their fridge. She'd be asking about that later.

"Well anyway," Kiba interrupted the silence after clearing his throat. "You're an idiot," he finished in a deadpan, eyes on Naruto.

"Definitely an idiot," Sai said, smiling.

"Hn," Sasuke agreed, although there was definitely some amusement in his expression.

"I thought that I alone had been asked," Shino stated. His glasses flashed almost menacingly.

"No kidding. What a drag," Shikamaru muttered.

"What—_Hey!_ You should all be proud to be Shinachiku's godfathers! I mean... look at him!" He raised his arms a bit so that the baby was prominently displayed. "You wanted a lot of godparents, didn't you?" He asked the infant.

Shinachiku chose exactly that poetic moment to spit up all over himself. Then he began to emit a high-pitched, wailing cry. "That's a yes, I swear!" Naruto exclaimed over Shinachiku's loud voice. He looked suddenly very nervous though, rushing to wet a rag at the sink. "Sakura-chan!" He called in near-panic, eyes wide and hands almost shaking as he wiped Shinachiku clean. She sighed yet again as she approached and put a pacifier into the baby's mouth. Shinachiku, as always, calmed down considerably once he was passed to his mother's arms again. Naruto gave Sakura an irritable frown for that.

"Man, what a _dork_," Konohamaru stated from in front of the fridge where he was amusedly staring at the inexperienced parents in front of him. His words, however, came out warped since he was speaking around a sandwich.

"YOU'RE THE DORK!" Naruto shouted, shaking his fist. "And hey! You're eating—Sakura-chan made that for _me!_" He pointed accusingly.

"That explains why it sucks," Konohamaru snickered, although he took another bite just after.

"I recommend spitting it out," Sai said.

Without a word, Sakura handed Shinachiku back to Naruto. Then she looked from Konohamaru to Sai.

She really had to decide. She had to think about who to hit first.

Sai was closer.

"Out." She told both him and Konohamaru. They didn't have to get told twice, what with the bumps on their heads. "In fact, all of you, go on. Shinachiku needs a nap."

"Wait, we must know who will be the true godfather!" Lee proclaimed, almost hopping with excitement. He had his fists balled earnestly.

"You heard Naruto." She said, expression sour. "Now get out."

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said in surprise.

"Seriously? All of them? You're really going for that, Forehead-girl?" Ino asked incredulously. The look of jealous bitterness was back on her face when she turned her gaze to Naruto.

Lee, on the contrary, punched the air victoriously. He darted up to Naruto and looked at the tiny bundle that was Shinachiku.

"As your godfather, I will ensure you have the most vibrant childhood possible! Naruto, thank you!" He grabbed Naruto's free hand and clasped it in both of his.

"No problem, Bushy Brows! You'll be a great godfather!" He grinned.

"Maaan, we all got stuck here for nothing, and you didn't even give us food. I mean, we _are _that idiot's idiot-baby's godfathers!" Kiba said with annoyance. A few heads turned to him with quizzical expressions. Despite all his caterwauling, however, he gave a somewhat proud gaze to Shinachiku before he stalked out of the Uzumaki home, his hands in his pockets.

"Yeesh. I guess that settles that. Kiba's the real idiot here. Let's go, Chouji." Ino swept out the door, giving Shinachiku a smile and a little finger-pat on the head before she left. The others followed suit soon after her, finally leaving Naruto and Sakura alone in quiet.

After a moment, Naruto cleared his throat.

"So... what is a godfather, exactly?"

* * *

><p>So I have this fascination with Naruto's upbringing and how that could have affected his perception of the world. Actually, my other NaruSaku fic entitled "Is This Genjutsu?" touches upon the same concept a little bit. When I thought about how Jiraiya abruptly showed up when Naruto was 12ish and trained him, I considered about how Naruto's working definition of the term "godfather" could have come about. ...and how it is probably very different from Sakura's definition. Most people understand that a godparent is someone who acts as next-of-kin when family cannot take care of the child. Essentially: they are the ones who raise the kid when the parents pass away or something else happens. Naruto's definition could not possibly match up with this because his godparent did not function in this way for him.<p>

Listen, I really just love psychology.

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)** * You Are Here**  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	15. Teenage Girls

So I did it! I was actually planning to NOT post a chapter for today because I was so busy, but this one was already about half written last night, and the rest of it just kind of happened pretty quickly/easily. Go figure. Still going to be busy up till the weekend, though. ;-; Thanks for all of your kind reviews! Last night, I received one really neat review that made me think, so I'd like to repost it as well as my response for you guys to read, in case you were also curious.

_**Turmanarmo's review: **__That actually makes a lot of sense for Naruto though I actually question if he even knew Jiraiya was his godfather. The man had died before he found out about his father and where his name came from so unless someone mentioned it to him I doubt he knew. Anyways, looking forward to your next chapter and good luck trying to keep this daily._

_**My response: **__Thank you SO much for your review and your great thoughts. I hadn't actively considered that, but I had kind of passively assumed the same thing-up until the current point in the manga._

_I like to think that after things calmed down more and Naruto grew up and became more of a peer to Kakashi rather than a student, they would become pretty good peerish friends. And I think Kakashi would most likely tell him his story of Minato at some point. It seems a bit OOC for Kakashi, I'll admit, but I like to foster these cute headcanons of characters overcoming all of their emotional struggles. Kakashi's losses (including all of Team Minato) are one of his struggles, and I think finally decompressing/processing it all would include a discussion about Minato with Naruto at some point._

_Does that make sense? In any case, I still agree with you 100% as far as canon goes and I'm glad you brought it up._

If anyone else has any neato questions or musings about any of my chapters or headcanons, let me know. I love things that make me think! :)

* * *

><p>It had never been common for Naruto to be tired, but these days, as acting hokage and father of nine, it seemed to happen a lot. Naruto stepped into the house after a long day, ready to be barreled over by an armful of excited children. It was then that he remembered that Sakura had them out—but only after a few long seconds of standing with his arms outstretched and a wide grin across his face, awkwardly staring at one of his daughter's teenage friends. "Yuu, your dad's freaking me out again," she called as she quickly departed toward Yuu's bedroom.<p>

"UGH." A familiar voice shot from around the same corner that the girl disappeared behind. "Just ignore him!" Naruto smiled and made a tired effort to relink up with Kurama in the back of his mind, offering an (unreturned) apology for accidentally severing the link at some point. He heard some giggling from the room where he now sensed two more of Yuu's friends with her. They were likely painting fingernails or looking at magazines. Girl stuff.

In fact, the three were sitting on Yuu's bed painting their toenails _while _looking at magazines when Miwa slipped back in, closing the door behind her. "He walked in and, like, wanted me to hug him, I think." She said as though divulging a horrendous secret. Yuu's lip raised in repulsion at the thought.

"Did you?" Hanako asked, her long, straight black hair braided into two pigtails. Their last friend, Natsumi, had still been trying to convince Yuu that she would also look good in Natsumi-style braided pigtails. Thus far she had failed, so she had slid off the bed to lie on the floor on her stomach. She hummed, ignoring the girls on the bed above her as she flipped through a magazine about cooking tips, her feet kicking idly through the air behind her.

"No?" Miwa responded after taking another sip of milk. "I guess he thought the brats were here."

"Aw, they're cute," Natsumi's voice floated up from below. She continued humming afterward, and the conversation continued as though her interjection had not even occurred.

"You shouldda," Hanako said, playing with one of her black pigtails. "Yuu's dad is pretty hot."

"Oh, gross!" Yuu spat venomously, her expression warping instantly into pure disgust. "Get out. Ugh. And don't even think he can't hear you."

"Well he can hear _you_ yelling." Hanako muttered back with an annoyed edge to her voice. She otherwise seemed unfazed as she fanned her wet toenails with a magazine.

"No dumbass, he senses like _everything. _He's such a _freak_." She fussed, running her fingers through her long, unruly blonde hair once again. Hanako merely shrugged and donned a mischievous smile.

"I'm hungry," she said, rising off the bed. "Come on, Miwa-chan. Let's get some food."

"I just got milk?" Miwa retorted with some measure of confusion. She was still standing by the door, however, so she had little time to argue before Hanako had pulled her out of the room. Yuu rolled her eyes again, adding another layer of topcoat to her toenails.

When they creeped out, Naruto was still digging in the fridge, deciding what he wanted to eat. The natural answer was ramen, but he'd had it for lunch and Sakura had _finally _managed to force him into _that promise_. The most challenging promise he'd ever had to uphold. The ramen-only-once-per-day promise.

Sometimes he hated his nindo.

He was so busy "hm"ing and "eh"ing over the food that Hanako and Miwa were fairly certain he had no idea they were there. So, just at the corner that lead into the hallway, they stood peeking into the kitchen at him.

Then, he suddenly and unexpectedly spoke.

"Yuu-chan," he called innocently. "Your friends are freaking me out." The immediate response was that the two girls squealed and bolted down the hallway, laughing in their horror.

The second immediate response was Yuu's characteristic "UGH." Then he both felt and heard her approaching like a tempest. "DAD." She said as she stalked out, her long, thick blonde hair swept to one side so that it cascaded wildly over her shoulder and hid one of her long-lashed eyes. If it weren't for the angular features, green eyes, and severely temperamental expression that she so often wore, she would have been the spitting image of her grandfather. Naruto couldn't help but don a sloppy, proud grin whenever he thought about that, much to her annoyance. She interrupted his attempt to cheerfully greet her before he could even get it out of his mouth.

"If you're going to bother us, can we at _least_ get some some cash to go eat?" She asked airily, flipping her hair behind her shoulder and then dropping her hand to rest on her hip. The other hand was extended palm-up toward him expectantly.

"Huh? What happened to your allowance?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head. He reached back into the fridge as she gave another exasperated _ugh._ Thankfully, she didn't see his fond smile. She tended to dislike it, which made it even harder for him to hide. He pulled out the milk, gave it a shake, and frowned at how disappointingly empty it was before turning back to her in search of her missing answer.

"Spent it." She muttered in a low tone when his gaze fell back on her. He gave her the "_too bad_" shrug in return, and her expression soured once again. "Oh my gosh, come _on _Dad. There's like never any food here. We're _hungry_."

"You are?" He asked.

Yuu hesitated at the odd question, but she crossed her arms and leveled him with a skeptical stare.

"Uh, _yeah_?" She asked back with a voice reeking of impatience and caustic teenage sarcasm.

"Well, hi Hungry. I'm Dad."

"Oh.

_mygosh_.

_DAD._" She snapped haltingly through clenched teeth, blushing in either anger or embarrassment. Or both. "I can_not _even deal with this. I'm going." She seethed, stomping back toward her bedroom and then stalking out with three friends in tow, two of whom were bright red and giggling as they passed him.

Naruto watched them leave, wearing that fond, proud grin, then chugged the rest of the milk down. Everyone had told him that teenagers were a challenge. He really had no idea what they were talking about.

* * *

><p>LOL so please don't hate me for this chapter. I just think dad jokes are fking hilarious, and I could totally see Naruto pulling a few really good (bad) ones off at some point, especially when his kids have attitude.<p>

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>


	16. Kakashi Tries Again

Phew! Sorry for the late updates. I'm trying really hard to continue with daily chapters, haha. Once again, I have to thank **Namikaze-Hime** from the bottom of my heart for the PERFECT names Kozakura and Umeko. It was also her idea to make Kozakura (ironically) very similar to her mother, which I hope to touch upon more in a future chapter as well. The irony there, by the way, is that Kozakura essentially carries the meaning "Little Sakura" n_n HOW FRIGGIN CUTE IS THAT? *dies* I actually adore these two so much, lmao. I hope you guys come to like them too!

* * *

><p>From birth, the two were quite strange. Kozakura and Umeko, the identical pink-haired twins—and Naruto and Sakura's fifth and sixth children—were <em>different<em>.

The elder of the two by 24 minutes was Kozakura, but she was by no means the more assertive. In fact, she seemed to follow her younger twin around like a duckling, unwaveringly obeying some unspoken, invisible code between the two that no one else could decipher. With wide innocent eyes, she was very expressive, full of smiles, and brutally honest in the way that children tend to be. She had learned to speak with surprising eloquence by the time she was two years old. The running joke was that she learned early because she had to speak for both herself and her twin.

Because Umeko didn't talk. Umeko whispered.

The younger twin had a voice that was a rare, tiny breeze. Her parents mistook it for a strange sort of infant babbling in the months that she learned to speak. They realized, far too late, that they had likely missed her true first word—because the first word that either heard from her was far from typical. It was not "Mama" nor "Dada," nor anything of the like.

It was "Kakashi."

Naruto and Sakura had nearly tripped over themselves trying to get her to repeat herself, but she withdrew into the state they had come to accept of their small, pink-haired daughter: a blank stoicism. In quiet support, Kozakura had toddled to her side and clasped her hand, and the two stared up at Kakashi unblinkingly as he stood by the door. He had been taking his leave when Umeko had called his name in her quiet wisp of a voice.

After that day, he slowly found it more and more difficult to leave the Uzumaki residence whenever he dropped by. The purpose or length of his visit didn't seem to matter. By the time he was ready to leave, he was guaranteed to have two identical little girls clinging to his ankles, sitting in his lap, or tugging on his hair, his mask, his sleeves. Escape was nearly impossible.

Naruto and Sakura were not helping. With their new baby Taijo in their arms, Typhoon Minako wreaking havoc with her older siblings, and their seventh child on the way, they were grateful that Kakashi had been nominated babysitter. Even if he was unwilling.

The first time it happened, it seemed innocent enough. Naruto had offered to walk with Kakashi back to the hokage tower as they discussed some politics with Kumo. He carried his three-year-old twins on his shoulders a little like one might carry two sacks of potatoes. They seemed to enjoy the ride, watching the world pass around them with curious blue eyes. Once they got to Kakashi's office, it had abruptly happened. Somehow, Kakashi had not seen it coming. Naruto gave a pleasant, "Welp, thanks for looking after them!" and disappeared in a wink.

They weren't _too_ bad. They were creepy as all get-out with their wide eyed stares, but at least they were quiet. The greatest challenge Kakashi seemed to have was that his former tactics were completely useless in the face of these two strange little things. No matter how many attendants he sent them off with, they would somehow find their way back with no one the wiser. He couldn't count how many times he turned back around from gathering a scroll and they were just _there_, holding hands, gazing up at him with stoic, expectant stares.

Creepy as hell.

But even so... they were nothing like the loud and messy Shinachiku, the sensitive and needy Emiko, or... _Minako_.

And even with those horrifyingly piercing, _knowing _eyes, they were cute. Just a little.

By the time they were four and Kakashi had passed the hokage hat onto Naruto, he had become an almost quintessential doting uncle to the two.

He told—didn't ask—Naruto and Sakura that he would be training them. Just them.

But not because he was playing favorites. It was strictly because _they_ wouldn't want, nor work well with, another sensei. At least that's what he told their parents. Naruto and Sakura had nodded slowly and patronizingly in agreement to that, then shared an amused glance while Kakashi felt his cheeks warming.

The two thrived under his tutelage. They learned well from him and seemed to pick up much of his lessons with little to no effort. They both excelled in their academy years, though Sakura was hesitant to let either of them graduate _too _early. By the time they were eleven, both had graduated and were taking on missions with Kakashi, their taijutsu and strategic sense impressive for their age, even by his standards.

Kozakura, he realized with no small amount of irony, was incredibly like her mother. She had inherited an aptitude for chakra control and was very clever. She tended to focus just a bit too much on what others thought and said. She even had that temper. It was no surprise to him, then, that she grew continuously more close with her mother. Eventually, just after making chuunin level, she graduated away from her Kakashi-centric training to pursue a hard-hitting melee style to match Sakura's.

Umeko's mood had remained foul for weeks after watching her twin bid a farewell to the team, although few others beyond Kakashi would have recognized a foul mood on the very stoic young lady.

In general, Umeko always seemed to deviate from expectations. It wasn't as though she surpassed what people predicted, nor that she fell short. She just took her own path completely. She in particular had excelled with Kakashi's training style; her silent and stealthy approach made her a natural choice for many of his trademark moves. What Naruto and Sakura lacked in focus seemed to have been stored away just for Umeko. She was a force of pure lucidity, an efficient killing machine by the time she had reached twelve. She was destined for ANBU. And she knew it.

It was not until she reached fifteen years of age, however, that her parents reluctantly agreed to her request to don the mask. Kakashi had proudly passed his dog mask to her. She had taken it into her arms with a typically serious, blank face, almost appearing bored.

But then she had hugged the thing to her chest so tightly that Kakashi worried she might crack it.

From that day on, Umeko did not allow the mask to leave her person. When not wearing it, it was strapped to her belt. She slept with it clutched in her hand (and sometimes, much to her parents' annoyance, with it on her face).

It was a fight to make her to take it off at all, even when she sat at home with her family. In fact, only three people had ever managed to make her remove the mask by request: Kakashi, Kozakura, and Naruto. All Kakashi had to do was tell her to remove it, and it was off. Kozakura only had to ask nicely. Naruto, on the other hand, could only make it happen if he issued the request as an official hokage order.

The first mission she was given as ANBU was... questionable at best. Naruto had ordered her mask off before explaining the situation so that he could watch her expression closely. He was worried that he might have miscalculated and would detect disobedience on her part. Instead, the slightest bit of anger twitched onto her features when he divulged that Kozakura had been spending a lot of time with the handsome, charismatic son of Uchiha Sasuke.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," she said with a bow after hearing her mission details. She fixed her old, nicked up ANBU mask back over her face. Naruto gave her a solemn nod and she shunshined away.

If that little Uchiha tried anything underhanded with her sister, she would be there. _Waiting_.

* * *

><p>Yup, there will be a sequel regarding this situation at some point (no guarantees about when I'll write it, though).<p>

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)<br>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	17. Every Family Has One, Part 4

This chapter is a direct continuation (and the conclusion) of "Every Family Has One." I mentioned I'd be posting it at some point, but it wasn't done earlier.

* * *

><p>"<em>ROCK. <em>_**LEE."**_ The first words out of her mouth were not what he had expected at all, and he gave a nervous glance over his shoulder as he continued his mad dash through the forest. He'd already had enough complaints about Uzumaki business being _everyone's_ business, and now that he was hokage, those complaints came straight to him. Another loud, public fight over Uzumaki family affairs (this week) was the last thing he wanted right now. Especially when it included the hokage himself, which was usually rare. But he had to feel at least _some _relief, even if he knew he wasn't out of the water yet. She was more mad at Lee than him.

That was good, right?

"Why would you choose _ROCK LEE_ FOR HER FIRST MISSION SO FAR AWAY?" Oh.

With no apparent concern for her own self-preservation, seeing as how she was clasped in his arms high up in the canopy, she slugged him right in the face with enough power to send the two flying apart. He managed a wobbling leap off of a tree branch and then made a dizzy landing on the forest floor below, rubbing his jaw and thanking his lucky stars that she hadn't hit as hard as he'd expected.

"Sakura-chan," he hurried to her side, although she had made a safe and effortless landing herself already. As soon as he got near, her fists raised to him again, this time to clench the collar of his white coat so tightly that he could feel the hum of her tremblingly angry muscles against his chest. He gulped. "She made a mistake. We..." he faltered when she began raising her head again so very, very slowly so that her eyes stabbed into his through a curtain of pink, windswept hair. He swallowed. "We all make mistakes as kids. Natural lessons, right?" He was hoping that showing he understood those "_natural lessons_" she always spoke of would placate her, but she didn't seem fazed by the word drop at all.

"Growing... out of it." She spoke slowly and quietly, but her voice was filled with deliberation. He recognized his own week-old statement and swallowed again.

"I—ehehe... I thought she was?" He raised a hand to scratch his cheek nervously, then realized the gesture called attention to his own whiskers and quickly jerked it back down to his side.

Her eyes narrowed just a hair further.

"Did you...? No. You wouldn't have. Would you?" She seemed manic in her anger, her voice teetering as though she were conversing with herself. Naruto gulped.

"What, Sakura-chan?" he asked, perhaps against his better judgment.

"She said she's been saving her money for this for years, Naruto." Her voice had suddenly become serenely calm. Which only made Naruto's fear rise. "Did you know about this?" She whispered the words, but they seemed to silence the entire forest around them. Naruto heard and saw nothing but Sakura. And he felt nothing but fear.

"N-not... not... really?" He kind-of-said, kind-of-asked. Then he offered her a shaky, hopeful smile.

"Did you know about this?" She demanded again, a little more loudly. There was a look of hard disbelief in her eyes, as though maybe, just _maybe_, she were waiting for him to just say no and let that be the end of it.

"No." He said firmly. Maybe she'd buy it.

"**Did you know about this, Naruto.**" Shit.

He cracked.

"She said it years ago—I didn't think she was serious!" He cried, hands on his head. "And I told her no! I swear, I told her it was a terrible idea and I even told her that I refused to bury my own child—because you'd KILL her—but she didn't _listen!_" He placed his hands onto Sakura's shoulders—her hands were still clutched around the collar of his hokage coat—and gazed into her eyes pleadingly. "But it's my fault, Sakura-chan. Don't kill our baby! Kill me instead! I should have made sure she didn't—" Naruto's sentence ended abruptly when Sakura punched him through 28 trees.

He was picking himself up shakily while Kurama growled expletives (at him) when he felt her chakra approaching. Quickly. Naruto scrambled to stand and then began to run.

He _hauled ass_.

Outrunning Sakura was easy. Normally. But with his tattered state and Kurama healing him only half-heartedly out of amused spite, she was terrifyingly fast.

In his panic, it took him embarrassingly long to realize that a familiar set of chakra was approaching from the border of Sound. By the time he even noticed, he was on top of them.

—

Chouji and his team were on their way back from their second C-Rank mission, although it had turned out considerably easier than he'd expected. His team was definitely ready for the Chuunin Exams. They were darting through the trees ahead of him, bantering and otherwise having a good time, when a large chakra slammed into his senses. Before he could even respond, there was an incredible _boom_ and a rush of wind. The genin shrieked as the trees they perched in bent and swayed. And there, in a crater on the forest floor below them, was the Nandaime Hokage.

"Oh, uh, welcome back! You finished the mission early!" He said, hiding his surprise quickly with a wide grin. His shoulders seemed uneven, one arm hung limply at his side, and there was a line of blood running from his temple down to his chin.

"Hokage-sama?" One of the genin asked, her sandy brown hair windswept and filled with leaves. Chouji's hard eyes locked with Naruto's for a moment—just long enough to silently ask if he needed assistance. Naruto gave one slight shake of his head. Then he grinned even wider at the genin in the trees above him.

"Great job kids!" He said, saluting with his working hand before taking off, making the trees sway once again.

For a long moment, Team Chouji remained in silent surprise.

"What was _that _about?" Their female, a dark-haired Nara asked.

Before an answer came, another incredible force barreled through. This one did not stop. All the team caught sight of was a flash of pink and red before the world shook up with wind once again.

"Oh." The Nara said, smirking knowingly.

"Huh? Chouji-sensei, how come Hokage-sama's always gettin' yelled at by his wife an' all?" His third student asked.

"He's whipped." The Nara girl said matter-of-factly.

"Oh." The boy paused. "What's whipped?" He asked back. Chouji sighed.

"We don't need to worry about other people's family lives," he said in a gentle reprimand, "now let's get back." The team continued their move forward, though if the Nara had any say in it, they would slow down and take their time. It wasn't like there would be a hokage to report to back in Konoha anyway, she argued.

—

Naruto made it all the way to the Valley of the End before he finally decided it was time to face the music. It was clear that Sakura intended to continue following him, so he may as well take his punishment with at least some measure of dignity. He stopped at the base of the waterfall and turned to face her approaching form with the windy spray tossing his hair about.

She stopped quite some distance from him. For at least a minute, the two faced off in silence. Naruto was having a hard time thinking about anything other than the fact that his wife was absolutely beautiful when she wanted to kill things.

"Stay here," she finally said to him, her voice deceptively calm. Despite his resolve to stop and face her, Naruto suddenly found her very persuasive. Perhaps it was the fact that she didn't seem the slightest bit winded from all that running. She was like a machine.

"Sakura-chan, listen," he started, taking a step forward.

"Stop!" She said, placing her hand up haltingly. He froze in mid-step. "I don't want to deal with you right now. You're going to make me angry and I need to deal with _her_." She was being frighteningly calm about all of this. Naruto wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Can't you just hit me, and, you know, make up? That usually works," he offered encouragingly.

"No. You're going to stay here and think about all of this. Don't come back. I mean, for at least a day." Naruto just stared, eyes wide.

"Are you _grounding_ me?" He demanded incredulously.

"Yes. And if you come back before you _get it_, I'm going to _break you into little pieces_." Her voice took on the hard, cold edge of a razor blade as she made her threat. Naruto had no words. He just stared at her, unable to speak.

It wasn't until she turned to leave that he leapt forward and found his voice again.

"Sakura-chan, you can't—I'm the hokage! I can't just sit here for a day." He plead with her, hands gesturing wildly in his confusion.

"I said until you _get it._ You should probably make it two days." She said, hand on her hip. She was still facing away from him.

"Get _what_?" He begged, taking another step forward. She whipped around so quickly that suddenly all he saw was the image of a completely murderous Sakura, her eyes almost glowing with rage.

"Stay, Naruto." She growled.

He blinked, his lip pouting out slightly. This was new. He didn't know how to deal with this. This wasn't his normal Sakura-chan sort of thing. He really had no idea what to do.

So he stayed.

Naruto sat down next to the waterfall at the Valley of the End for two days, wondering what _it _was supposed to be.

In the end, he never quite found out. But if Sakura's angry mutterings for the week following (while he carefully tiptoed around her) were any indication, it had something to do with his ego.

Except... Naruto didn't _have_ an ego.

* * *

><p>Can anyone tell me why Naruto and Sakura are so perfect?<p>

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)** * You Are Here**  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	18. It'll Be Okay, Part 1

Okay so I mentioned before that I wanted to start posting the chapters about Naruto's dark hour, and here's the beginning of that. I'm still not fully done with it, but I have the feeling that if I don't just start posting it, I _won't_ get it out there. So enjoy, I guess.

* * *

><p>It was in the second week after they found out about her pregnancy that she saw it. She woke up that Sunday morning and turned in her tangled blanket to greet Naruto. He was already awake and grinning at her, his hand at the back of his head in an all-too-familiar gesture. It was not the gesture but the smile itself that left her feeling far more confused than her morning daze usually permitted.<p>

She was certain it was fake.

But there was no reason for him to be giving her a fake grin, and all too soon it was gone and he was serenely smiling at her, petting her hair, and giving her a good morning kiss. By the time she had fully awakened and had begun to make them both breakfast, she had already decided it had never happened.

The two of them kept more than busy, and true to her nature (and much to Naruto's annoyance), Sakura continued to work far through her pregnancy. She knew he had _something _to do with her shortened hours and changes in duties, but as long as she was contributing to Konoha's wellbeing, she didn't mind. What she did mind was how devoted he was to his missions lately, so after a while she decided she might have _something _to do with his sudden drop in missions as well.

She was a little over five months into her pregnancy when she felt the baby kicking for the first time. She'd noticed little twinges and movements, but this was definitely a shinobi kick. So when Naruto walked into the door that evening, she nearly barreled him over in excitement.

"Welcome home!" She chimed delightedly, pressing her lips against his cheek and wrapping her arms around his neck. He laughed heartily and spun her around, and she decided not to tell him about the kicking until he could get a chance to feel it. She suspected that if she told him now, neither of them would get a chance to make or eat dinner because he would have his head pressed against her belly until he felt something himself.

"Ah, I missed you," he breathed into her hair as he set her down, "what's got you so excited? Did Ino find another one of Chouji's chocolate stashes for you?" She swatted him, trying hard to frown indignantly and failing as he continued to laugh. Then, eyes widening, she suddenly grabbed his hand and pressed it to her belly, shushing him. She held his large, warm hand there, firm and still until—there it was! Another kick!

She flicked her eyes up to see Naruto's expression, expecting to see him the happiest he'd been since the day they'd found out about their baby.

But that wasn't how he looked at all.

His eyes were trained onto her stomach, and his countenance had molded into a look she could never, not even years later, fully describe. But it was something like fear.

And something like sadness.

It was such a short flicker of inappropriate emotion that she would probably once again have questioned seeing it at all, but then he smiled. He gave her the widest, most insincere grin she'd ever seen, and suddenly she knew it had all happened. All of it began to claw its way to the forefront of her mind at once. His fake smile months ago. His obsession with disappearing onto mission after mission. His clinginess and neediness in between those missions. This look of..._ something _as she held his hand against her stomach. All the little things she'd passively worried about—and stupidly handwaved as needless anxiety—were _real_.

She had never been good at hiding her emotions. Not like he was. He was so terribly, wrongly _good_ at in the absolute worst of situations. But she wasn't, so she could tell right away that he knew. He knew that she knew.

He resigned almost immediately, letting the smile drop into one more wan and apologetic, though his eyes said nothing but sorrow. He didn't speak.

"Naruto," she tried to speak softly, but it only came as a whisper. She didn't know what any of this meant—it was all so incredibly sudden and surreal, leaving her feeling dazed. It felt she'd wake up from a strange nightmare that takes place in daily life and only differs from reality in the most subtle but discomforting ways.

"Don't be sad, Sakura-chan. It'll be okay," he said softly, the deep sorrow in his eyes already replaced with that familiar and strong desire to protect her.

It made her steel her own gaze and swallow even the smallest inclination to cry. Naruto was himself, and so the moment he saw anyone else in any form of distress, he turned completely away from his own troubles. She couldn't let that happen right now.

Something was wrong.

The problem was that she was lucky if the hormones didn't shift her mood from one extreme to the next with each five minutes that passed. But she took a deep breath anyway, the odd feeling in her throat receding, and blinked up at him with concern on her features.

"What's wrong?" She asked softly. He made it clear that he didn't want to take this seriously with his skeptical smile.

"Geez, you didn't have to just turn it off like that, Sakura-chan. You can cry if you want!" He raised his hands at her placatingly, trying to be his normal, goofy self. But then she gently clasped his hands and lowered them so that he was stuck facing her calm gaze.

"What is it, Naruto?" She asked again, her voice gentle and filled with all the love she felt for him. For him, and for their baby.

He paused for quite some time before answering, his expression very slowly shifting into something that looked so very, very tired. Finally, he averted his gaze downward with grim smile, then quietly said "I don't know" with a voice so laden with pain that she felt her heart shudder and clutch in her chest. She raised her hand and cupped Naruto's cheek, drawing him to face her yet again.

If there were any doubts in her mind about this family at the moment, she wasn't aware of them. She was just _worried. _Worried because the person who always worked so hard for the happiness of others—the person who made her the most happy—was unhappy. He seemed torn for a moment as he gazed down at her, then he took her hand off his cheek and pressed his lips into her palm. He began to speak in a soft murmur that hummed against her skin.

"I love you. I love our baby. And I... I love this. All of this. I promise I do, Sakura-chan. I just..." He paused, eyes closed, breathing through their laced fingers, "I just keep feeling terrible and I don't know why." He paused. His next words came out choked, as though he were holding back tears. "What if—" he started and then halted, swallowing roughly.

She had to bite back so many forceful responses then, _making _herself wait patiently for him to continue. But they still tore through her mind, begging to be made.

_He'll be okay._

_We'll protect him._

_We'll give him the best life he could ask for._

_Nothing will happen._

_And if something happens..._

_He has my parents. He has our friends._

_He will not have your childhood. He __**won't.**_

_You'll be __**such**__ a wonderful father._

But if there was one thing that her long-term relationship and longer-term friendship with Naruto had taught her, it was that she could not assume what he was thinking. She could do it better than anyone else, of course, but it was still rare. And whenever she was unsure, like now, then she would wait. She would let him explain. Because Naruto was Konoha's number one most unpredictable ninja, and Sakura was Konoha's number one most intuitive kunoichi. They were the perfect match.

And so she waited.

When he finally spoke, his voice was strained, sounding just as tired as he now looked.

"What if I wasn't... _supposed_ to have kids?" He said, looking into her eyes searchingly so that she knew it wasn't rhetorical. He wanted an answer.

Sakura couldn't give an answer. She wasn't even sure she understood the question.

"What do you mean?" She asked, and his eyebrows furrowed into the frustrated expression he made whenever he couldn't quite explain something.

"I don't know," his voice reflected the frustration too, and he pulled away, running a hand through his hair. "I'm so happy though," he added, turning to give her a sideways glance. "I'm really happy. I'm gonna be a father, you know?" His voice cracked a little at the end, and he swallowed thickly before his eyes began to well up with tears.

She held him. She held him and rocked gently side to side as his warm tears soaked through her shirt and onto her shoulder. She held him and ran fingers gently through his hair and over his back and shoulders, and her eyes gazed forward with fierce determination. When Naruto couldn't be strong, that's when Sakura knew she had to be strong for him. And so she was.

Later, when they curled up on the couch together, he laid his head on her stomach and refused to move until their son kicked again.

But they both fell fast asleep before he did.

* * *

><p>;-; my baby<p>

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)<br>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)  
>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)<br>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)  
>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)<br>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	19. It'll Be Okay, Part 2

This chapter has undergone an edit since it was first posted (a few hours ago). Based on my current muse and buddy Deusal Bladesinger, I added Kurama's role into this chapter as well since it really was inappropriate to leave him out. Gotta say, I LOVE positive, healthy critique reviews. :)

* * *

><p>"<em>It'll be okay.<em>" The mantra was painfully familiar to him, although perhaps more in concept and less verbatim. When he was a child, it was usually "_one day, I'll_..." or "_they'll see_," but the concept was the same. It was his desperate self-reassurance that life would improve.

What was so very frustrating was that the mantra had seemed to work better in the past than now. Much better. Perhaps he was romanticizing his youth (which seemed very likely to him, at least in his more calm moments of clarity), or perhaps it truly _was_ less effectual, but either way... it wasn't working.

And Naruto had no idea what to do.

He had learned how to fight, how to protect his loved ones, how to comfort people, and how to do so much more since he was a child. But none of it could work here. And even though he'd won the battle in the past, the experience was not helping him now. He had everything he'd dreamed for back then. Well, he wasn't quite hokage yet, but he knew that he would be. At least on a logical level, he did. There were increasingly frequent moments during which he doubted that anything positive would ever happen to him again, usually while lying awake staring at the dark ceiling. It was so stupid that he worried he might laugh too loudly and wake Sakura up from her sleep. It was so stupid that his quiet laughter would distort into quiet sobbing.

He had friends. He had the girl of his dreams. He had a beautiful child on the way—he was going to have a _family_.

Without a moment's hesitation, he would have given up his ten-year-old life to experience any one of those things for a day. For an hour, even. And he had all of it. No, he had more than he'd ever dreamed he could have.

So why was he so _miserable_?

Kurama had started on him almost immediately.

"What is up with you?" He growled low, deep in the back of Naruto's mind. "You're sniveling like an infant."

Naruto appeared in his mental space with a grim smile.

"Hey," he said in a worn out voice.

"Don't feel obligated to pester me." The response was ironic. Then Kurama slammed a huge, clawed hand down next to Naruto and crouched so that his nose was only inches away from the young man's face. "You've been childish. What is the problem?" Then his wide, fanged mouth curled into a massive, wicked smile. "Afraid of sprouting offspring?"

Naruto immediately shook his head.

"I dunno," he said, scratching a hand through the back of his short hair. He said it flippantly, though he knew Kurama would see past that instantly. "I just feel kinda shitty, you know?"

"Well snap out of it," he snapped, appropriately. "I'm sick of watching you. It's unbecoming of my vessel, no matter how idiotic you already are." Naruto grinned at this, genuinely.

"Thanks, buddy! You're always lookin' out for me these days." He laughed. Kurama, conversely, emitted a dangerous growl that whipped through Naruto's hair.

"That's a stupid, useless comment!" His voice roared through the cavernous space, almost making Naruto take a step back. But not quite. He only laughed again.

"I'll figure it out. It'll be okay." He said once the wind had died down. Kurama narrowed massive eyes at him, but said nothing more.

Naruto was not figuring it out. His deep, churning thoughts on the topic almost invariably turned back to self-deprecation.

"Selfish," he whispered one night into the still, dead air of his bedroom. A shame-ridden epiphany. He had everything he wanted, but he still wasn't happy. He was a selfish, spoiled brat. Had he been that way all along? He'd fought and worked and striven for all of these wonderful life goals, but was it just for the thrill of the hunt? Would he never, ever be satisfied no matter how perfect his life was?

He didn't deserve any of it.

That revelation had stolen the breath right out of him. It had been the worst night in a long time.

But like always, dawn would come and he'd realize how utterly ridiculous those thoughts were. He was a good person. He was just struggling through something. So he continued to push through each day, expecting the dark, strange nightly thoughts to go away.

But as time wore on, they began to infect daylight as well.

There was so little that made him feel better. One of the few things that seemed to put the throbbing, chasm-like ache of his chest at ease was pondering over what he could do about it. He still hadn't found an answer, and as the days wore on, it had begun to work less and less. On the days Sakura was at work and he was home from a mission, he found his bed a comforting spot. And so he'd lie staring at the wall for hours, desperately thinking about what he could do to make the horrible feelings of drowning, of stuck, of impending loss, of loneliness and shame and anger go away. He didn't even believe half the potential solutions he came up with. But that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was that the feelings ached less when he thought about solutions. Or they did for a while.

The other thing that made him feel better was Sakura. He would press her to himself and breathe in the smell of her hair, her skin, her _everything_, and the ache didn't stand a chance.

Even Naruto's oldest and greatest nemesis was terrified of Sakura-chan.

The rushing, bright happiness he experienced when he thought about that fact was incomparable. She had even caught him laughing at nothing a few times, and the way she put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow quizzically at him sent the feelings tuck-tailed away for longer than anything else. There was nothing in this universe that could stand up to this glorious, terrifying woman.

He was so lucky to have her.

But he didn't even deserve her, he thought only hours later as he held onto Sakura's hand and felt her chakra resonate with the tiny, growing child shifting inside of her.

Kurama's voice pulled him back down into their mental space.

"Talk to her." He growled, looking altogether embarrassed by the idea of counseling Naruto, as he had the many other times they'd discussed possible ideas. This one had already come from both Naruto and Kurama several times, but each time it did, it was trashed almost immediately for the exact same reason.

"She's already got a whole other life to support right now," he said, impatience in his voice.

"Stop being a martyr and _do something_. I'm sick of watching you steep in your own broken self-importance." He raised his voice, claws scraping against the non-ground below their feet.

"Stop." Naruto said to him, head down. Kurama froze not with intimidation but with surprise. "You don't get it. I mean, thank you. For trying to help and all. But you don't get it. So just stop." And then he departed, keeping his thoughts as far from Kurama as he could for the rest of the especially miserable night. Kurama maintained a respectful silence on the matter from that moment. Naruto added the conversation to his increasing list of painful regrets to linger on nightly.

It was only a few days later when Sakura put on a bemused smile after giving him a gentle peck on the lips.

"Are you okay? It seems like you have a lot on your mind lately." She said, her head tilting a bit. She had her thumbs on his cheeks so she could stroke his whiskers in a way they both liked so very much. He instantly grinned.

"There's a lot to think about, Sakura-chan!" He said, pleasantly nodding his chin toward her stomach. She laughed in return, pressing her hand over where their child was nestled. There was a huge part of him that wanted to continue. To tell her that no, he wasn't really okay. And maybe he could use her help. But then she looked up to respond.

"I guess that's a good point." She said, and there was still a small, puzzled quirk to her smile as she searched his eyes.

He couldn't. He couldn't burden her with this. At least not right now. She was the one who needed support.

And so he gave her a serene, strong smile and kissed her on the forehead before she could pry any further.

An hour later, he was demanding another mission.

"You don't want missions closer to home right now?" Kakashi asked him, eyebrow raised. Naruto grinned, a hand to the back of his head sheepishly.

"C'mon Kakashi-sensei. I'm gonna have a kid to take care of soon. I gotta save up now so I can be home with him when he gets here!" It was the truth, of course. But only part of it. The more immediate reason why he needed missions was to avoid infecting Sakura with whatever all this was about. He knew it wasn't _actually_ infectious, but he also knew his wife enough to know how much she'd worry if she knew.

And so he disappeared as often as he could. He reserved all the happiness he could for Sakura. On the nights he worried he'd feel particularly bad, he'd take her out with friends and drown himself in a pleasant social atmosphere. It worked on a temporary level, but he found that now he could barely keep a smile on his face even in public anymore. And he was starting to get so, so tired.

He walked in the door after a short mission one day to find her in a particularly good mood. She pressed his hand to her stomach, and suddenly he could feel not just the chakra of their child but his small, lively kicking.

And then everything fell apart.

And as he cried into her shoulder, he tried to muster up the energy to feel guilty for dragging her into the stupid problem—the problem he should have been able to fix on his own. Instead, he could only feel relief.

A good crying jag could help a lot, she told him the next day when he relayed how incredibly good he felt. He thought for sure that it had cured him.

It lasted about three days.

* * *

><p>So I honestly believe that EVERY person goes through dark times like this at some point. We just all do. It's part of being human. That being said, I think it's important to show that even the most unlikely of people go through this as well, and sometimes those people are the ones who have the hardest time picking themselves back up from it.<p>

So I dedicate this to all of you out there who are struggling or have struggled through stuff like this. You're not alone! (And if you ever need to vent, my inbox is open.)

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)<br>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)  
>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)<br>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)  
>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)<br>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	20. It'll Be Okay, Part 3

I'M CUTTING IT REALLY CLOSE TO MY 20TH DAY DEADLINE. 1 MINUTE LEFT? *STRUGGLES TO KEEP POSTING DAILY*

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><p>Sakura had a lot of pent up, directionless anger at the moment, and she knew that was not a good thing. Especially with all these hormonal mood swings. But it was so painfully frustrating that her oldest friend was well-studied in psychology and could probably help her find what she needed in less than an hour. Instead, she was sitting at the Konoha library, skimming through every book about child psychology, family psychology, and parental psychology she could find. There had to be something in all of this that could help her help Naruto.<p>

She was at the end of her rope.

It had been nearly two months since Naruto had broken down and cried onto her shoulder. She had been determined to support him, and if letting him have a good crying jag would solve things (like it often did for her), then she would be there to soak up his tears. But it didn't seem to be helping.

In fact, as the weeks passed, he seemed to slowly become more miserable. But only when he was alone with her.

She had come to realize, with an intense amount of remorse, that the boisterous, "normal" Naruto with a wide smile had been carefully fooling her for _months_ before she'd noticed.

It didn't matter that he continued to keep the rest of Konoha duped. She still felt like the worst wife on Earth.

But she tried not to focus on self-centered, self-deprecating thoughts and justified it as best she could to preserve her own mental health. He had been escaping on missions for much of those months and was gone for days, sometimes weeks, at a time. He had taken her out into public for much of their time together, onto dates and out with friends. It was obvious now how he wanted to keep her focus off of himself.

She hated how good he was at hiding his pain.

And she hated _why_ he was so good at it.

She found herself once again dangerously flirting with the idea of re-evaluating _everything_. How much of it had been fake? Their earliest days at the academy. Their first missions. The Chuunin Exams. She _already_ knew how contrived his Promise of a Lifetime had been. How many nights had he gone home to that empty, dark apartment feeling like he did now?

And she'd been so, so cold to him at first.

There had been times she considered thinking about all of that, but she'd always stopped herself in the past. She knew it was a door that, once opened, might taint her perspective toward their relationship forever. She risked being swallowed by ravenous, all-consuming guilt. And she couldn't do that to him. To them.

So once again, she stopped herself from delving into those topics and focused on what she knew _now_. He was sad. It had started when they found out she was pregnant, or shortly thereafter. He thought maybe he wasn't "_supposed_" to have a child, although the meaning of that seemed to escape both of them. That was all she knew. That, and he was depending on her to heal him.

He had never shown her a side of himself so raw and exposed like this before. She was a medic, and wounds were not, _couldn't be_ unfamiliar to her. But this was an abscess deep in his heart, something that had gone septic and could not begin to heal until she found the source of the infection.

But that could be a good thing, she forced herself to think.

If this was some old wound peaking at last, then this meant it could finally heal, right?

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice a very familiar chakra approaching. Somehow fate had Ino run into her despite Sakura avoiding the blonde dutifully. And she was still feeling a lot of that directionless anger. Ino stopped, her flowing trenchcoat coming to a rest around her calves, and slammed her palms down onto the table across from Sakura. She scoffed.

"Parental psychology? Did Sai finally rub off on you? Forehead-girl, you don't _actually_ think that a book can teach you how to be a good parent, right?" Sakura offered her an impatient glance over her book.

"Seems like there's plenty in here you could learn, Ino-Pig. There's a whole chapter about the damage you can cause with gossip." She muttered. Ino flipped her hair with a chime of a laugh and sat across from her, but Sakura wisely decided to ignore her and continue reading. So far nothing in here had clued her into what Naruto might be feeling and how she might be able to address it. The closest she had found (at least to the situation of first-time-parent related depression) was a chapter discussing postpartum depression, but that wasn't even possible. It had at least offered some good insight on cognitive therapy, however.

"I'm pretty depressed, you know." Ino said. Sakura snapped her head up with stunned concern, but it was clear that the statement had struck her much more seriously than Ino had meant it. Instead, Sakura found her sitting with a dramatic pout on her face. "It's my day off and I tracked you down only to find you doing stuff I should be doing with you." Sakura scrunched her face into surprise.

"What are you talking about, Ino-Pig?" Ino made it very clear that she had been waiting for Sakura to ask that very question.

"I was supposed to be your pregnancy-buddy, not _Hana_! What does _she _know?" She burst out scarcely after Sakura had finished her sentence.

"What?" Now Sakura had to place her book down and get a very good look at her friend. Ino was acting weird. Really weird.

"Forehead-girl, we've been friends since we were yea high," she held her hand next to the table at about knee height. "I should have been the one pregnant with you. We could have gone binge eating weird stuff, and buying baby clothes, and designing our nurseries together... Ugh! She doesn't even _try_ doing that stuff with you! _She_ didn't grow up with you! _She_ didn't teach you what good fashion is! _She_ didn't mold you into everything you are today! _She_ didn't deserve to get pregnant with you! _I_ did!" She paused then, inspecting her fingernails casually in an odd show of complete calm after the storm. "That's been pissing me off for months. I finally figured I'd tell you." She heaved a heavy sigh of relief. "Well, I feel better. I guess I'll see you later! We should do lunch tomorrow. See you then, and good luck with your nerd stuff!" She strolled away looking quite cheerful, leaving Sakura absolutely puzzled behind her.

"Wait," Sakura said, regretting the word almost as soon as it was out of her mouth. This was probably a bad idea. She had already toyed with the notion of going to Ino for some leads, but there would be no way to play it off casually if she were steeped in psychology books. But then again, now that Ino had seen her here like this, it might only make it worse to try to play the nonchalance card. Instead, she simply hoped Ino had not heard her so she could go back to avoiding contact.

Luck was not in her favor today.

Ino came careening back to land bullet-like in her chair again, hands folded before her. "Yes, Forehead-girl?" She asked, offering a pretty smile. She must be feeling _really_ lonely to act like this, Sakura thought. Maybe it would be good for both of them, then. She heaved an almighty sigh.

"I... think someone I know is depressed," she said. What. _What?_ How less subtle could she be? Why had she just _said_ that? She blushed almost immediately, more in self-directed anger than in embarrassment. Now Ino would know that Naruto was depressed, and the one weakness he had so carefully entrusted to her would become all of Konoha's business. She wanted to slam her wide forehead into the table.

"I was wondering when you'd bring this up with me," Ino's tone wasn't amused in the least. When Sakura looked back up at her, she was filled with concern and understanding. It was so unlike the Ino that Sakura knew so well. But then, Ino had always told her the same about those times they worked hospital shifts together. She said it was like looking at a different person altogether. Ino seemed to _become_ her work in psychology as much as Sakura _became_ her work in medicine. All at once, Sakura was relieved to have Ino as a friend. So, _so _relieved.

"You could tell?" She asked softly. Perhaps she should have expected this.

"It's been written all over your face for a few months now. I know pregnancy does that to some of us. It's normal. You don't have to worry." She said it all so very professionally and with phenomenal bedside manner that Sakura found herself nodding. Then she froze. All over _her_ face? _Pregnancy_? Ino thought _she_ was depressed? That forehead-to-table seemed appropriate once again. But maybe this could work in her favor.

"Well... how do I fix it?" She inquired. Ino smiled, tilting her head.

"Having the baby will be a big help, I'm sure. You've always been a mother-in-training with all that nagging you do." It was the answer Sakura didn't want to hear because it didn't involve anything she could actually _do _for Naruto. She opened her mouth to protest, but it seemed as though Ino was expecting her to be unsatisfied with the answer. "Your support system. That's why I've been looking for you, you know. But I haven't been able to get ahold of you alone. Seems like every time I run into you, _he's _with you, or _Hana's _with you," she rolled her eyes here, "so I've been trying to catch you alone. Not that that's bad. Naruto is probably the best support system you could ask for. That guy is always just a _ray of sunshine_." She shook her head with a smile, and it seemed as though she were referring to some inside joke or reference that Sakura was unaware of. Sakura bit her lip, holding back all the things she suddenly wanted to say. Everyone always expected too much of Naruto. It had always been that way. He'd spent his whole life exceeding expectations that were already set far too high. Instead, she released her pent up breath in a long exhale from her nose.

"What if..." she started, rubbing one hand with the other gingerly. "What if I wasn't... _supposed_ to have kids?" She recited the words that had been on constant repeat in her brain for months. Ino's eyes widened.

"Forehead-girl, don't say that. Don't _ever_ say that. You of all people deserve to be a mother. You've always been good with kids—heck, you've babied the rest of us for most of your life. You even _married _a big kid for Heaven's sake." She paused, taking Sakura's hands in her own and clutching them earnestly. "Listen to me. This kind of thinking, it comes from _feelings_, not logic. Most of the time it's stuff that you've felt for a long time. Like a _really _long time. I mean, like, the kind of stuff that you locked into your six-year-old heart when you got teased as a kid. You have to recognize that all those feelings are from the past and _in_ the past. Trust me. You deserve children, you deserve to be a mother, and you definitely deserve to be happy. Do not beat yourself up over feelings that have _loooong_ overstayed their welcome." She smiled again, raising a hand to poke Sakura on her forehead seal. "Just remember that red ribbon. You've already bloomed, and you're more beautiful than ever." But Sakura had already begun to tune her out, numb. She nodded mechanically, then stood, bumping her belly on the table as she did. She mentally apologized to her child, then stepped around the table to pull Ino into her arms.

"Thank you, Ino." She said, tears glistening in her eyes. "I'm so lucky to have you as a friend." Ino patted her back, and then they released the embrace.

"Don't mention it. Wanna grab lunch now? Remember, you have to eat for two." Sakura was bursting to talk to Naruto, but she knew he was on a mission today, which was why she had stopped at the library. He _might _be getting back, but if he was, then the one place they might accidentally bump into him would be—

"Ramen." She blurted. Ino's lip raised in disgust.

"So it's both of you now..." she said, rolling her eyes. "But I guess like father, like daughter. Or son." She patted Sakura's belly. "You know, there are a lot of theories these days that pregnancy cravings come from that one, not this one." She pointed at Sakura's stomach and then her face, respectively. Sakura couldn't help but laugh at that, her eyes still teared up with joy.

"That _would_ make a lot of sense." She agreed, wiping moisture from her eyes.

—

Naruto had not been at Ichiraku, but Sakura had still put away two bowls of miso pork ramen in his honor. She was disappointed that he wasn't here, but at least it meant she could borrow Ino for a bit longer.

"So... I know you said support system. But how... I mean, should I be doing anything specific?" She asked, swirling her chopsticks through the broth and carefully thinking through her words to avoid slipping up. She worried that, even now, she was being far too obvious. But hopefully that was in her head.

"That depends on you. I'd try talking it out, but it might hurt." Ino patted her on the head then, and Sakura felt like a little girl. It was odd, being mothered by Ino of all people.

"Do you really think it would help?" She asked, unable to muster annoyance at the patronization she was receiving. She was so worried about hurting Naruto. She'd already asked a few gentle, prying questions, and he'd tried so hard to answer despite looking agonized. She didn't want to put him through that unless she was _certain _it could help. She was so worried that she'd only make him feel worse by focusing on what was wrong.

"Think of it like the monster tapping on the window when you were a kid. Once you peek outside, you'll see that it was just a branch in the wind." She shrugged almost flippantly. "That stuff can't hurt you once you realize how harmless it really is."

"Isn't that oversimplifying it?" Sakura asked, finally feeling some irritation.

"It might be, but you've always had a knack for overcomplicating simple things." She said, offering a wry smile. Sakura couldn't quite argue with that one.

She and Ino parted ways, but not without one last hug.

"It won't happen overnight, Forehead. So just... don't rush." She had said in the most motherly tone Sakura had ever heard her take. She might have been offended at another point, but right now she was appreciating Ino's protective stance. A lot.

She was surprised, when she got home, to find that Naruto was already there. Not only that, but he was sound asleep on their couch.

The emotion she'd felt toward Ino's groundbreaking statements washed back over her and she smiled, her eyes sparkling with tears. Somehow, she felt like they'd already taken a step forward.

* * *

><p>;-; I'm making myself kinda sad with this plotline right now, so I hope you all can bear with me. I mentioned before that I think it's good to show people's struggles with their inner demons (in Naruto's case, not quite so literally anymore xD). This set of chapters is my way of doing that for Naruto.<p>

I've thought a lot about his childhood and how it may have affected his inner workings. His upbringing was a textbook example of extreme trauma. The most harsh (official) punishment in many prison systems is isolation for a reason. It works. It breaks people to pieces.

Naruto grew up knowing it and only it. I don't think there's any way he can grow out of that trauma without some form of processing later in life, and although it isn't exactly the kind of concept that fits into a shounen manga (so I can hardly try to claim that it could be canonical) I think it is incredibly realistic. I'm not saying that Naruto necessarily has to be someone who broods consistently, but I don't think he has gotten the chance to decompress and process his childhood experiences in canon and thus I feel it would have to catch up to him eventually. He'll work through it as he always does, but no one can convince me that Naruto wouldn't go through a dark time like this.

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)<br>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)  
>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)<br>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)  
>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)<br>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	21. It'll Be Okay, Part 4

Okay well I intended to make this one chapter, but I wrote so much that I had to split it. That's fine with me! This means I'm already done with tomorrow's chapter! *wipes sweat off brow* Only 10 more chapters left to post after this! ...unless I decide to continue after October (though not daily). Anyone interested in that?

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><p>"Hey" His voice didn't exactly wake her up, but it drew her from the slow, underwater-like sensation of drifting into sleep. She hadn't realized how tired she was when she crawled onto the couch, tucked herself next to him, and laid her head down on his chest. She had been listening to the heartbeat that had become something of a lullaby to her. Ever since she had nearly lost him, it was a sound of comfort and salvation.<p>

"Hi," she murmured without lifting her head from the sound. Only then did she realize that he'd draped his arm over her shoulder.

They laid there like that, somber but comfortable, until the sun began to dip in the sky and the quaint night life of Konoha stirred awake outside.

Then she lifted herself so that she was above him, her face filling his vision, gazing down at his features. The strange, loud brat of Konoha had grown into a man of immeasurable compassion and good will. He was nothing short of the most kind person she'd ever had the grace of knowing. He deserved everything. All the things he wanted and so much more.

She was so lucky to have him as both her husband and her best friend.

And that, she realized, was her greatest personal tragedy in all this. She didn't miss him as a husband so much. He was still so very affectionate, and while she had missed him on his missions, she was still getting used to this wife thing anyway. She missed him so much more as her best friend. Where was the Naruto who was so easy to talk to? Who always made her feel comfortable? Who always _was _comfortable?

He'd been so hypersensitive and challenging to talk to now that the two were struggling through this together. She wasn't upset about that, of course. She wanted to work through it with him. It was just heartbreaking to have to walk eggshells around her best friend.

He gazed up at her calmly, no questioning in his eyes despite how much she was scrutinizing him now. Her lips curved into a small, quiet smile.

"I want to get through this with you," she told him. It looked and sounded confident despite being a desperate plea.

"Okay," was his subdued response as she lowered to kiss him on the lips, but she was halted uncomfortably about halfway there by the buffer zone that was her pregnant stomach. They both glanced at it in a comical silence, then laughed.

It felt so good to see him laughing again, and he sat up and swept her into his lap with one fluid motion and hugged her tightly against him as a bundle.

Why couldn't it just stay like this?

"So... I was thinking." She started, feeling her heart beat against her eardrums. It was downright frightening to bring up something that clearly bothered Naruto so much in the past. She had avoided it dutifully since the first time he got upset, but maybe walking on eggshells _wasn't_ the right thing to do right now. "I really do think your childhood has everything to do with this." She couldn't see his face, but she could feel his body slowly tense up until it felt a little like she were being held in the arms of a statue. Then he eased her up so that, if she wanted, she could have lowered her feet to the floor and stood. She didn't move. She was afraid that if she did that now he might take the chance to withdraw. When he finally responded, his voice was cold and hard.

"Did Ino tell you to say that?" He asked. It stabbed through her like a knife. She whipped her head to face him, but his angry, poutlike gaze was focused adamantly on the floor.

"Were you spying on me?" Her voice asked, surprising her. She hadn't wanted to say it. She hadn't wanted to get angry. She wasn't bothered that he knew where she'd been. That wasn't it. She was bothered that he was bringing up the topic of their first fight as a couple. Their _only _fight as a couple so far. Hell, it was one of maybe two real fights she could think of at all.

It had been over a year ago now. His obscenely precise sensory skill had been used, unbeknownst to her, to keep a tab on her whereabouts. He hadn't really meant to invade her privacy. It had been out of concern at first. But then his curiosity—and a little bit of jealousy—had driven him to question her on why she'd been at a certain place with a certain person at a certain time.

They had fought over it for nearly an hour.

How dare he not trust her. How dare she think he didn't trust her. He never had permission to track her every movement. She had to be kept safe just like the rest of Konoha.

Then the fact that she'd been planning a surprise for him came out, both ruining the surprise and abruptly ending the fight. They had agreed that, to an extent, they'd both been right. And wrong. They valued one another too much to let any semblance of distrust grow, so neither had lingered on it nor brought it up since.

Until now.

She stood from his lap in the silence that followed her hurt question and tried to calm herself down. She wasn't supposed to be angry. That's not how this was supposed to go. Before she could speak again, he finally responded.

"I'm sorry" he said softly, still gazing down and away from her. His eyes reflected more frustration than anger now. They began to shine with tears. "I'm sorry. I just... wanted to know why you weren't here." Sakura closed her eyes and resisted the temptation to punch herself. Hard.

"Naruto I wasn't—I didn't tell Ino anything about you. It wasn't like that." Tears managed to seep out of her eyes despite the fact that she had clenched them tightly shut. "Can we start this conversation over?" She asked pleadingly.

"Yeah. Please." He agreed with the same level of desperation to his voice. Then she sat back down on the couch next to him, and the two remained silent for some time, letting their hearts settle and their tears dry.

She spent all of that time wondering whether she should try again. Ino had said it would be painful. This was just part of that. It had to be. In the end, her devotion to healing him won out, and she hesitantly brought the topic up once more.

"I really, really think you should talk about it." She said, trying for the most gentle tone she could muster.

"I don't want to." He said quite simply, but somehow it was laden with the question _why_.

"It might fix everything." _Or nothing_, they both thought with aching hearts.

"How?" He asked. There was a lot of skepticism in his tone, but she could hear the beg in it as well.

"Well what if all of this has to do with how people made you feel back then? When you talk it out, maybe you can start to realize how much it can't hurt you. You know, like... like when you're a kid and you hear something tapping on the window. The best thing to do is go open it up and see what it is. Otherwise you end up imagining a monster." He had been staring forward as she spoke, but when she offered the monster-outside-the-window analogy, he turned to give her an odd gaze. She scratched her arm self-consciously. "That's how Ino put it," she said, realizing even as it came out of her mouth that she was bringing that up again.

He didn't miss it either, his hands clenching. "But we weren't talking about you, I promise. I really do." She said, raising her hands placatingly. Then she lowered her head with an amused smile. "It was _really_ weird actually. She got really clingy with me. Then she started giving me advice because she thought I was depressed. It was really good advice, even if she was acting a little crazy. Ino really knows what she's talking about." She looked back up to him to persuade him of that further, but his expression stopped her in her tracks.

He didn't look persuaded in the least. He looked a little angry, honestly.

"Depressed?" he repeated. He stood. "Are you depressed, Sakura-chan?"

"No," she said, brows furrowed. "Honestly, I think you are right now."

"Well of course I am, but why are you? Is this my fault?" He paced away as he spoke. It seemed as though he were talking to himself more than her. She stood then too, and began to follow after him.

"Naruto, what are you getting at? I'm not depressed, and if I were it wouldn't be your fault." He paced away from her again. "Please stop trying to change the subject. I said I wanted to get through this with you, and—"

"Does that mean you _are_ depressed?" He demanded, interrupting her.

"No! Will you stop? This is absurd!" She crossed her arms in a huff. "Can we just talk about your childhood and try to help you? Why won't you just let me help you?" Her voice sounded angry, but her expression was desperately imploring. Naruto looked lost, scratching a hand through his hair.

"I don't want you to get hurt." He said without looking at her. He shook his head as though to dispel a terrible mental image from it.

"Naruto, _you_ are hurting _right now_. Please just... talk to me. I don't know what to do anymore. It's like you're not even _here_. I need you." He finally managed to drag his eyes to hers where she stood alone, stark against the dark wood paneling of their living room floor. She was crying, hugging her arms over her pregnant stomach.

"I can't let you get hurt." He said, feeling miles away from her despite being just across the room. His eyes began to water as well.

"You're already hurting me!" She shouted, silencing them both. He stared at her, mouth slightly agape and cheeks wet with tears.

Sakura tried to calm herself down. She couldn't do this to him. She couldn't do this to either of them. She lowered her voice a little, resisting the temptation to make this about herself any further.

"If you don't want me to get hurt, then please, _please_ just _talk to me_. Ino thinks it helps to talk about our childhood. I am willing to try anything at this point. I want to help you. Will you just try?"

"So no matter what I do," he started in a quiet, pained voice. "I'm going to hurt you right now?" He leveled her with a gaze so serious and sobering that she actually felt scared. Naruto had never frightened her before. "Fine." He continued, his voice raising. "Everyone hated me. What else do you want me to say? What is that supposed to help? Do you think I haven't thought about it? It happened! It's over!" He stomped on the floor as he shouted the last words at her. In his anger, it was far harder than he had intended. The floor caved in around his foot crater-like, and his chakra shot out through the flooring, cracking it up in a spiderwebbed pattern.

Sakura took a step back in her surprise, and the board she placed her weight on splintered, sending her falling backward. It was just a tiny thud onto her bottom, but Naruto's expression reflected the most intense, helpless look of horror she had ever seen.

"Thb-thTHE BABY!" He shouted, throwing himself down before her and holding a shaking hand just above her stomach fearfully, horrified regret etched onto his face. "Is he... Will he be okay?"

Sakura couldn't help it.

She laughed.

New tears ran fresh, but this time not of sadness. She blinked through them to see Naruto's look of complete shock. His cheeks were still wet, but he was no longer crying. He just looked dumbfounded.

"Your face," she sputtered in the midst of her laughter. "Naruto," she began as her laughter died down. "I'm not made of glass and neither is he. I can fall onto my ass without him getting hurt." She wiped her tears away, sniffling and smiling. "I'm sorry. We should start over again, shouldn't we?"

Naruto released a pent up breath that looked like it relieved ten years of tension, then placed a hand over his eyes as a small, weak smile blossomed on his face.

"I guess so," he said, rubbing his eyebrows. "I'm sorry."

"Please don't be. We are going to be fine. All three of us. I just want us to cry together if we're going to cry. I think I earned at least that." She leaned forward as she sat on the floor, peeking up under the hand that he had covering his eyes.

"Yeah," he agreed, unable to control his smile when she was being so adorable. "You did." He said it softly, resignedly. "Let's talk."

* * *

><p>I think that makes three fights now, don't you?<p>

One thing I love about these two is how easily they recover (or make up) from awkward or unhappy situations. After the confession and Sakura-trying-to-kill-Sasuke's-ass scenes, they immediately get along normally again. I just love it.

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)<br>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)  
>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)<br>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)  
>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)<br>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	22. It'll Be Okay, Part 5

Well, almost done! I thought this chapter was finished yesterday but then I decided to rewrite half of it ._. But I still managed to make my midnight deadline for the day. I want to thank you all SO much for your reviews, by the way. They keep me going ._. You have no idea how much they keep me going. Thank you times a million!

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><p>They curled up on the couch that now creaked and wobbled under them, seated as it was on the uneven, cracked up floor. It made both of them laugh, even if just a little bit.<p>

Then the room fell back into silence. Although the two had finally agreed to talk, neither had any idea how to start.

"I dunno what to say. I don't really think about it." Naruto said finally, looking at anything but Sakura. The wallpaper was suddenly very fascinating.

Sakura had taken the silent moment to think about some kind of prompt. Something that would help this happen. She couldn't just expect him to recount an entire narrative... even if that would make it a lot easier.

"What about the flowers?" She asked. He gave an immediate, soft _huh?_ in response. "The white tulips and the blue hat." The ones she'd found outside his apartment door several years ago while he was on a mission. The ones that came with a card which had a small, lonely _I'm so sorry_ written on it in flawless script. The ones Naruto had returned home and stared at with a confused look, then an unsettled look. The ones he'd refused to talk about other than to say they were "_for something that happened a long time ago._"

"Oh." Was all he said. He shifted uncomfortably.

Sakura's eyebrows knitted with concern, and she sighed gently. She traced her fingers up his arm in gentle, quiet support. It still took a long time, and from the way he tensed and shifted a few times, she could tell that he was actually employing effort into _not _getting up.

"I got lost." He finally blurted in the wind of a large exhale. "I was little, like six. I couldn't remember where my apartment was." He said it as though he had to justify getting lost at six. "It was night time and it was snowing, and everyone just kept walking away from me, you know, once they saw who I was." He paused here, swallowing. "This lady, I don't remember her face, she stopped and talked to me. I was so happy, you know? She talked to me like a mom." He blinked rapidly as he said it, though he wasn't crying. "I don't really remember what she said, but I think she asked me where my parents were, I think I told her I didn't have any. I had these mittens." He sighed through his nose. "Do you really think this is going to help, Sakura-chan?" He asked, rubbing his arm uncomfortably.

"Even if it's just a little, it's worth it. Right?" She coaxed. He turned his head just a little more away from her before continuing, his voice low.

"I had these mittens, and I was covering my cheeks the whole time cuz I'd got it by then, you know? I'd figured that much out. But somehow she knew—I dunno how. She grabbed my arm and pulled it and saw my face. I remember being scared because she looked so mad. She grabbed my hat—it was blue, yeah—and I tried to get it back, but she just held it way high over her head. I was probably kicking her ankles and stuff, but she just stood there and told me to freeze. She said it would be best if I just... froze to death. That's what she told me." He sighed again as he finished, squirming. Sakura had been silent, but her hand was clenching over her mouth now, trying to force away the desire to cry. It surprised her that _he_ wasn't crying. He just looked grim. "I still don't get it. It just seems so fucked up. Like—like I look at kids. Like just little kids, and I don't understand how people could have been like that. I mean," here his voice finally broke, and he put his head in his hands. "And I don't even know what I want. I thought I wanted an apology, but when I got those stupid flowers and—and she _made _me a new hat, and it just made me feel awful. All I can think about is how guilty she must have felt after that." Now the words came like a torrent. He sounded so lost and pleading and full of desperate confusion that Sakura had to press her hand onto his shoulder. She gently grounded him back down to the couch. Back into her arms.

Despite his tears, he seemed so much more calm than before. She wasn't sure what was doing it. Maybe it was just in her head, but it just seemed like he was less tense. She sniffled, giving away the fact that she was crying too. He wiped his tears away with the heels of his hands, then straightened his shoulders.

"But I really had a lot of happy moments as a kid, too." He said, clasping her hand in his. Sakura frowned. She didn't want him to be trying to comfort her. But perhaps it was an opportunity in disguise.

"Then let's talk about that," she offered, wiping her own tears. He tilted his head a little with a dubious frown. But he didn't seem to disagree because he started almost immediately.

"There was that crayon you picked up for me." He said, voice still raw with tears. But he smiled even so, giving her a sideways glance. "And then there was the—"

"What crayon?" Sakura interrupted, genuinely curious. He blinked in silence for a moment, then his face morphed into something she hadn't seen in months: comical dismay. It felt suddenly like Naruto was back as he shifted to the edge of the couch and turned to face her quite animatedly.

"You don't remember that? No way, Sakura-chan." She looked at him quizzically. "The orange crayon. I still have it, you know." He actually looked excited and jumped up from the couch then, and while a part of her wanted to protest that he should just keep going, she was _so _happy to see his energy back. Could it really be working this quickly? She could hear him digging in their bedroom before he returned with an orange crayon that was the most ratty thing she had ever seen. It had long ago lost its wrapper and was now just a piece of dirty, chipped up orange wax. "Do you remember now?" he asked her in all seriousness. She almost scoffed at the idea of _this _thing jogging her memory.

"Nope," she said. But she still took it into her hand and turned it about, inspecting it from every angle. "So remind me."

"Aw man, I really can't believe you forgot about that. It was back at early school or whatever, I forget what it was called, but where we learned to read and stuff. This mean fat lady used to yell at us, and you were there. I didn't know anyone, but one day we were all coloring these scrolls in groups except I was alone, of course. I dropped my orange crayon and you picked it up gave it back to me." He was grinning so widely now that Sakura had to laugh.

"I still don't remember this at _all_, but I remember that school. So, then what?" How reassuring. Without even realizing it, he was alleviating so much of her guilt about how she'd treated him as a stupid child.

"I realized you were the best girl in the world! No one had ever done anything so nice for me other than Jiji." He smiled serenely at the thought and pulled her close against his chest, which thankfully hid her sudden look of dismay. That was it? She picked up a crayon for him. _That_ was a happy memory? So happy that, fifteen years later, he still kept it as a memento? But maybe he'd just mentioned this one because of Sakura's involvement.

"What's another one? Another good time." She asked him, rubbing her fingertips in small, gentle circles on his chest.

"Jiji gave me my favorite plant," he said. She glanced toward their bedroom, although from here she could not see the plant on the window sill. It still amazed her that Naruto had kept the thing alive and well for fifteen years after receiving it at only five years of age. She had known right away that there was something especially significant about it. However, it wasn't until after they'd moved in together and he placed it onto the sill of their bedroom window (cooing to it softly as he arranged its vines just so) that she realized she would be competing with this thing for his affection at times.

Finding out it was one of his few heirlooms—his mother's own plant, although he only found that out many years later—made her begrudgingly accept this fact of life.

But she still couldn't believe that she was occasionally jealous of a_ plant_.

He was smiling pleasantly at the thought, but she saw the edges of his mouth begin to tire and quickly asked him for another story.

He was quiet for a little while after she asked, so she worried that she might have to push him again already. Then he nodded decidedly, as though he'd remembered something else.

"There was the time Chouji and Shikamaru said _'see ya later'_ even though their dads were watching. Man that blew my mind. I was pretty sure they were my first real friends after that, but they didn't play much afterward. I mean like, not really with anyone."

See you later. That was a happy memory.

Sakura was understanding a lot better why Naruto didn't want to talk about this. "_I don't know what to say_," he'd said. Perhaps it was far more a case of "_I don't know where to start._"

It wasn't that Naruto's childhood had produced a collection of sad memories. It was more like he had a handful of slightly unsad memories that punctuated a constant state of sadness.

She had known, of course. She had just refused to let herself think about it in order to avoid feeling guilty. Because accepting this meant accepting that Naruto _had _been sad. The whole time. That the pranks, the laughter, the boasting, the showiness... it had all been a carefully arranged mask to hide a crying, desperate child.

He never should have been alone.

She tried to control the train of thought before it made her cry and possibly destroy the moment yet again.

"I remember you playing with us a lot though." She said, hoping her voice didn't sound too high pitched. "That made you happy, right?" She felt him nod.

"Yeah of course, that was the best. But that was cuz it took years for everyone to finally get the talk from their parents. Usually once they did, they would run away, but Chouji and Shikamaru didn't really seem to care. That was cool to me." He said, shifting so that she thought he might be feeling increasingly uncomfortable. Sakura snorted a little out of her nose.

"I never ran from you," she said, snuggling in closer and hoping she could relieve some of the tension. Despite her attitude, she was probably experiencing as much discomfort as him.

"_The talk,_" to most families, meant discussing sexuality or dating. In Konoha, it had meant the day you learned that little blonde boys with whiskers were to be avoided. Sakura also knew that many kids had spread the information amongst themselves long before their parents caught sight of them near _that boy_ and sat them down for _that talk_, but she would never mention that to Naruto. Even though she was sure he knew, anyway.

Despite her attempts to focus on keeping Naruto comfortable, the question that was nagging her, that was _killing_ her, kept trying to surface. She decided, after letting it stew for so long already, that she should just ask it and get it over with and move forward with him.

Because they'd just agreed to cry _together_.

"Naruto," she started with a swallow. "When we were on Team 7. At the very beginning. Like, even on the first day," _when I told everyone there that I hated you._ "Were you really happy?" She wondered if he'd lie. But she was pretty sure that she'd be able to tell even if he did. She just wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Yes." He said the word with reverence, as though it were the most important thing he'd ever said. He pulled away from her to gaze into her eyes. To hold her shoulders and make sure that she was looking right at him. "I can't even tell you. I was so happy, Sakura-chan. It was," his eyes watered here. "You guys—Team 7—it was the first time I was a part of something. You guys were everything to me. I was so happy." He crushed her into a hug, and it was only then, when she took a shuddering breath, that she realized she was crying too.

Ino had been right. She had been right that it would help. Both of them.

And she had been right that it would be painful.

They talked until the sun rose in the sky. They cried, they laughed, they shared stories: good, bad, and terrible. They held each other's bleeding hearts so very carefully and tried to keep them from falling to pieces.

And it helped.

Sakura thought for sure it had cured him.

It lasted about five days.

* * *

><p>We're getting to the home stretch, I promise. ;-;<p>

I'm not sure if it was on Tumblr or somewhere else, but I know the idea to have Naruto receive his mother's plant was inspired by someone else's idea. I'm not sure if they specifically presented that idea or if their headcanon was something more vague, like "Sandaime kept one keepsake from the important people in his life and handed the ones from Minato and Kushina to Naruto at some point." If anyone happens to know whose headcanon this is, please let me know so I can credit them. ;-; I know it's an older headcanon of mine and not something I came across while writing this, so I honestly forget.

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)<br>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)  
>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)<br>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)  
>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)<br>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	23. It'll Be Okay, Part 6

Okay so once again I overwrote BAD. I wanted this to be the last chapter of this plotline! It's totally not! Ah! So here, have this. Once again, posting last minute so please forgive the mistakes in the meantime. It is my goal to post the next chapter sooner, but we'll see how _that_ goes. ;-; Thanks so much for all of your great reviews AGAIN!

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><p>Things had gotten better.<p>

Naruto was irreversibly connected to Sakura. He still could scarcely believe that he'd been able to share so much with her. All the things he thought he'd never be able to say, he'd finally disclosed. He hadn't even realized that he'd wanted to say them. But he had. And even if it hurt, it had felt so, so good.

But things had gotten so much worse.

No matter how many times he tried to shake it from his head, Naruto was plagued with _acceptance_. Acceptance of the fact that his depression might never go away. If even Sakura, if their bond, if _that _couldn't make it go away, then what could? He had clung to the silent, fragile hope that his unborn son was the answer to that question, but as the days wore on he no longer wanted to think like that. Because how could he place so much responsibility on someone who was supposed to rely on _him_?

His mood permitted somewhat positive thoughts in short, fleeting moments, but it took only seconds before they were tainted with incredible guilt. Sakura had shouldered the entire burden of his broken, pathetic childhood, yet he still couldn't be happy. Not even for her.

He hated himself.

"It'll be okay," she whispered against his cheek, her tears mingling with his. He didn't respond at all that night. He could barely speak anymore when it hit like this. Sometimes it felt like his own body was crushing the air right out of him.

He could no longer hide it in public, so he hid from the public. It was shockingly easy to avoid people when one could sense all of them, constantly. The moments he suspected someone was coming to visit their home, he would spirit himself away.

He still asked for missions. But only solitary ones.

"You're not well." Kakashi had observed when he reported in for a new mission.

"I'm freaking out," he said in an attempt to be casual, but it didn't suit his disturbingly stoic expression. "I'm having a _baby_, Kakashi-sensei. In like three weeks." He raised a hand to the back of his head and loosened his posture then, trying to allow just a little bit of his misery to show. Just enough to make him look convincingly worried.

"Does that make you happy?" Kakashi asked carefully.

"Of course!" Naruto mustered all of his energy to say it with a smile, wondering even as he said it if it were a lie. "I'm just freaking out." He added with a weak chuckle and a discomforted shuffle of his feet. Kakashi scrutinized him for a moment longer before sending him off his mission.

It was hours later, just after sunset, when Kakashi stopped by to see Sakura. He had expected her to have guests while Naruto was out—she was getting close to her due date very quickly and probably should not have been alone for too long—but she answered the door alone. He could smell the broth of some soup she'd had for dinner, and when she invited him to sit on the couch with her, she had to move the book she'd been reading. _Herbs for the Heart: How to Use Herbal Remedies for Emotional Healing_, the cover read. His eyes lingered on it for perhaps a moment longer than they should have.

"Are you hungry?" She asked him before even inquiring as to why he was visiting.

"No. Just sit, don't entertain me," he said, handwaving her. She leveled him with a flat stare.

"I was going to tell you to get it yourself," she said, blowing her bangs out of her eyes humorlessly.

"Ah..." Kakashi said, glancing away and clearing his throat.

"So what are you here for? Checking up on me while Naruto's away?" She smiled appreciatively and perhaps a little cattily.

"A little." He admitted. Then: "What's wrong with Naruto?" Straight to the point.

"Huh," she said, making a show of tilting her head curiously. "Oh," she said then, furrowing her eyebrows a bit. "Was he spazzing out at you too?" Kakashi kept his expression carefully stoic.

"He seemed very unwell." He said. Now her features had a touch of concern.

"Unwell? Like how?" She asked, shifting a little to get more comfortable. That alone was a challenge when her stomach was the size of a small building.

"I don't think he's been himself." Kakashi paused here, but years of knowing him told Sakura that he was framing his words, not waiting for a response. She waited patiently for him to continue. "He looked haunted, honestly. He said he was 'freaking out' because of the baby." Kakashi was familiar with haunted. Sakura knew that Kakashi was familiar with haunted.

"Yeah, he's been getting a little neurotic lately," she admitted, shaking her head. Then she looked straight at Kakashi, one eyebrow quirked and her lips pursed into a humorless smile. "He's driving me nuts, Kakashi-sensei. He's ridiculously worried about the baby, about me _having_ the baby." She sighed here, fairly dramatically. "A few weeks ago I fell on my butt. Honestly the tiniest fall. And he was beside himself—you should have seen his face." She laughed, and this time it took no effort to do so. "Ah well, what can we do, though? I can't wait till Shinachiku's born. I'm hoping he can calm down then. But you have to admit it's kind of cute. You know, one of the most powerful people that's ever existed—Heaven forbid he take fatherhood with grace." She chuckled, rubbing her stomach affectionately. "I'm sure he'll calm down," she restated, looking up to Kakashi with a serene smile.

He gazed at her uncommunicatively for some time. Then he smiled pleasantly.

"Well, if you're not worried..." he let the sentence hang, then gave a little shrug.

"Pff. This is Naruto we're talking about. He'll be okay." She handwaved his concern. Kakashi didn't overstay his welcome after that. He bid her farewell and departed, offering her words of wellness. His gaze flicked to the book on the table one last time before he left, but he said nothing more.

The moment his chakra had faded from her senses, she heaved a deep, remorseful sigh.

"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei," she murmured into the dark, quiet room. Right now, she would support whatever decision Naruto made. And if that meant hiding what he was going through, she was willing to do it. She just hoped it was the right thing to do.

Unlike Naruto, Sakura had decided to place her hopes and wishes into the child that was nestled within her. Shinachiku was going to change everything. She was sure of it.

He just had to hurry up and come on out.

—

Shinachiku had to _hurry the FUCK up._

Sakura moaned, sweat pouring down her face. Tsunade paced into the room, took one look at her, and began scrubbing down at the sink.

"Shizune, get more fabric. Sakura, do you want Naruto in or out?" She glanced over her shoulder at her protege.

"In!" She said without thinking. "Make him get in here!" She bit the words out in a strained jumble amongst short, gasping breaths.

"I'll bring him!" Shizune called as she hurried toward the door.

She almost gasped when she slammed the door open. Naruto was just there, standing outside the room, staring right through her as though he were seeing a ghost. After catching her breath, Shizune hid her smile behind a few fingers.

"Sakura wants you with her, Naruto-kun." She said to him, placing a hand on his shoulder gently. "I know you're nervous about the baby, but don't worry. Childbirth is a beautiful thing." Sakura's brutal scream pierced through the air at that exact moment. Shizune gave Naruto an embarrassed smile and then a gentle push into the room. He gulped, then started walking forward almost mechanically.

Tsunade heard Naruto enter and turned to greet him. She had rushed right past him when she'd arrived, not taking a moment to glance at his face. All she'd seen was his profile as he stared wide-eyed at the door. Typical man. Now that she got a better look at him, she narrowed her eyes a fraction.

He looked like he'd lost quite a bit of weight since the last time she'd seen him. After a few tentative steps into the room, he hurried to Sakura's side and took her hand in his.

"I'm here Sakura-chan," he told her. She gave him a wobbly smile and squeezed his hand. He was wiping her sweat-drenched hair off her forehead when Sakura suddenly pulled her hand out of his, grabbed onto the bedrail again, and screamed out in writhing pain.

The contraction ended and Sakura took quick, gasping breaths, tears streaming from her eyes. Naruto looked down at her helplessly, but Tsunade had approached and was calmly standing above her.

"Push," Tsunade said, her voice somehow both gentle and commanding.

"I aAAAAHHHHHHH!" Sakura's voice cut through the air, her body tensing with pain. She gasped for air all over again, letting her head fall back against the pillow. Nothing had prepared her for this. This made getting stabbed and poisoned a walk in the park.

Naruto had become so pale that Tsunade worried he would pass out.

"Wipe her face," she commanded to him, gesturing to a cloth on the table next to where he stood. He did as told, gently dabbing the cloth with shaking fingers.

"Naruto," Sakura said, turning her head to face him between contractions. She lifted a shaking hand off the bedrail and grabbed for his hand blindly. He took it in his and crouched down, bringing it to his face.

"You look great, Sakura-chan. Just keep going. He's on his way," he said, murmuring whatever consolations came to mind.

Her face scrunched and she screamed again in what looked like the most agonized war cry he'd ever seen. Something—no, some _things_—in his hand cracked when she squeezed.

"Yah!" He shouted in pain and stood back up, though he didn't jerk his hand out of her grasp. "Sakura-chan, you broke my hand!" She let go immediately, screaming again as she grabbed for the bedrail.

"I'm—I'm sorry!" She said between gasps. He lifted his warped hand, his expression childishly upset.

"Naruto, if you cry a single tear I will break _all_ of your bones so you can feel what _she's_ feeling right now." Tsunade warned, cowing him into a wide-eyed silence.

"Don't talk to him like that!" Sakura cried, shocking both of them as she reached out for him. "Let me heal your hand," she said more gently, but the way her hand draped on the metal railing of the bed as she reached out showed just how exhausted she was.

"Absolutely not. He can heal that himself. Sakura, you need all of your energy for this." Tsunade said, gesturing for Naruto to back up a little. He didn't step away, but he didn't give her his hand either.

"I'll be fine, Sakura-chan. I'm sorry. Don't worry about me." There had been so much excitement in the air that it was hard to have his terrible thoughts, but now Naruto was trying to control the anxiety that was trying to eat him alive.

Sakura screamed again, and Naruto stared on helplessly.

He felt the tendrils of Kurama's chakra focus on his hand, and he quickly stole away to hover halfway between his mindscape and reality.

"Don't. Just leave it." He said, feeling thoroughly uncomfortable. The intangible image of Kurama floating before him bore its teeth.

"Why?" He asked in his deep voice.

"Just don't," Naruto said.

He focused back on Sakura before him and once again took her hand in his broken, mangled one. She squeezed lightly but was otherwise too preoccupied to realize that she was hurting him. Naruto silently grimaced. He would not cry out in pain again. It was the smallest thing he could do. It was nothing, really. But at least he could share some of her pain.

Sakura moaned. "Is he coming?"

"He'll come. Just push." Tsunade responded. She glanced behind her briefly. Shizune must have had to leave the building to get more cloths for clean-up. She was taking ages.

Sakura's scream pierced the air once again, this time sounding even more agonized than before.

There was a part of Naruto that needed to rescue Sakura from pain no matter the cost, and right now it was going completely haywire.

His anxious thoughts had begun to compound, and now they combined with this horrible helplessness. His Sakura-chan was suffering so much. He couldn't help her. The crushing feeling was coming back as well. He was pathetic. He couldn't even bear _this_, yet Sakura was in so much pain that it was like having every bone in her body broken. And she did it without complaint. He couldn't even properly support her through that.

It wasn't that he was weak. He was strong. He was probably the strongest ninja on the entire planet, but he couldn't help Sakura. Hell, he couldn't fight his own irrational, destructive emotions. How could he possibly expect to protect his son?

He had begun to slowly realize, starting with the moment Sakura calmly said "_I think I'm going into labor,_" that he couldn't be a father. He had thought he could. The moment he'd found out about the pregnancy, he'd been the happiest of his life. But that was when the baby was in there. Now that there was going to be a baby out here, out in this cruel, painful world... He was certain that he wasn't the right person for that. Someone else could be the father of this child. Someone else _should _be the father of this child. But not him.

He didn't deserve a family.

He had _never_ deserved a family.

His chest felt so crushed that he was finding it hard to breathe. Sakura was screaming through another contraction, and Tsunade was bowed behind the sheet draped over her knees, shouting something at her. He couldn't breathe. The edges of his vision began to darken. No. Not this again. Not like what happened in the Land of Iron. He couldn't do this now. Not when he was holding Sakura's hand and trying to get her through this. Not when he was waiting to meet his son. He had to think positive. He couldn't let this happen. Not now.

_Kurama_, he didn't think he was in his mindscape, he only had seconds. He was going to fall over any moment now. _Please._ He wasn't speaking. He had no voice, not even in his mind. But he willed, more strongly than he could ever imagine doing, he _willed_ that Kurama do this one thing for him.

All at once, he was plunged into a battering, swirling mass of existence. Thoughts, feelings, memories, sights, smells, sounds—they crashed into him from every direction and filled him so that he thought his head might literally explode. He saw the Sage of the Six Paths. He _knew_ the Sage of the Six Paths. He knew years and decades and centuries. He knew darkness. True darkness. He knew hatred and loneliness. He knew the Shodai, the Niidaime, the Sandaime and Yondaime Hokages. He knew Uzumaki Mito's every nuance, and he knew Uzumaki Kushina's spirited, meddlesome voice like it was his own. He knew Uzumaki Naruto—himself—from a different set of eyes.

Suddenly, he knew Kurama.

Then it was gone, and he was in the serene comfort of his own mental space, lying in the shallow water and gasping for air.

Alone.


	24. It'll Be Okay, Part 7

IT'S DONE. And, as I had hoped, it's (a little) earlier than the other recent ones have been! :D Hope you enjoy.

* * *

><p>Kurama had no idea what the hell had just happened.<p>

One moment, Naruto was passing out like the little brat he'd become lately, and the next, he'd unexpectedly been slammed with a new perspective of Naruto's entire life. He'd already seen it all through the same eyes, but this time he _felt_ it. As odd as the experience was, he calmly allowed the memories and emotions flow over him, musing over them. In most cases, he only felt validated—he already knew most of what Naruto had been feeling. The only thing that surprised him, truly surprised him, was the fact that Naruto had never hated a single person. Ever. He'd even said it, in retrospect, a few times. "_I hated them,_" he had told that idiot racoon's keeper. He didn't know he was lying. He had disliked many, but he had never been unwilling to forgive or understand. Not even once.

Naruto did not know hate.

Then suddenly, along with all of that—and _above_ all of that—there had come a strange, overwhelming desire to comfort Sakura, to ensure she wouldn't be alone or unsupported. To stay by Sakura's side.

And so he was.

Kurama blinked and looked around himself. He was standing next to where Sakura lay in bed, her hand clasped in his. He was in Naruto's body.

What the _hell_ did that idiot do now?

Sakura's contraction ended and she let out a small sob of relief, her breath ragged and exhausted. She was over three hours into labor now. Tsunade raised back up from behind the sheet, healing chakra fading from her hand as she did. She was beginning to look exhausted as well.

Kurama could feel the grind of broken bones when Sakura squeezed his hand again, albeit gently. She ran her thumb along his knuckles. He immediately began shifting some of his chakra toward the hand to heal the splintered bones. He'd only spent short moments like this—not just gazing out of Naruto's eyes but truly _using_ Naruto's eyes. It was horribly strange to stand in this tiny body for more than just a second or two.

His eyes flicked up when he sensed the chakra of Shizune approaching before either of the two tired women did.

"Tsunade-sama, I'm sorry!" She called as she entered, a bag of fabric over her shoulder. She placed it down. "Sakura, how are you doing?" She immediately got to work, scrubbing down and taking Tsunade's place so that the older woman could rest for a moment.

"What took you?" Tsunade asked after checking on Sakura. When she'd looked at Naruto, his head was down and his eyes half lidded as he gazed down at his wife. She didn't realize that he was paying equal attention to her scrutinizing eyes. That he wasn't gazing at Sakura but narrowing his eyes to avoid detection.

"I witnessed an injury and had to stop," she said, no apology in her voice. Tsunade nodded. It was just duty. After applying a wet cloth to Sakura's face, she finally sat down on a chair near the door.

Sakura was clearly conserving her energy at this point, resting with her eyes closed between contractions. Kurama couldn't help but appreciate that. He wasn't exactly interested in interacting with her.

She moaned again, and then she turned her head in his direction. He froze, stiff as a board. He was still holding her hand, unmoving, when she smiled up at him, her half-lidded eyes glazed with a thin sheen of constant tears. For that one second earlier, Kurama had seen her through Naruto's eyes. He was baffled by the idea now, looking at her disgusting, sweaty, furless—naked—skin. But for that one second, she had been the most beautiful thing he'd ever laid eyes upon.

Then she blinked once, twice, and her eyes widened in disbelief. Kurama immediately wanted to retract back into his intangible home inside Naruto, but his charge had fallen unconscious. And to let this body topple over _after _she saw it possessed by a red-eyed, slit-pupiled demon was probably far worse than just blacking out in the first place. So he stood, frozen, staring down at Naruto's wife like a wild animal caught in a trap.

"What the _hell?_" She asked, suddenly not sounding so tired anymore. Kurama wasn't sure how to respond to her. He really wasn't sure how to respond to this situation at all. In his annoyance, he wanted to growl, but humans didn't growl.

What Sakura saw her demon-eyed husband do was scrunch his face into a wrinkle-nosed, disgusted expression, as though he were taking out some particularly nasty garbage.

And he was making that face at her.

Shizune was staring at him with an intense look of shock.

Tsunade looked a little bit like that person who's seen everything already. She picked at some lint on her pants after giving Kurama an irritated, judgmental stare.

Sakura was bullshit.

She jerked her hand away from his, her expression filled with anger. "What—hrrng!" she moaned before she could finish, shifting in the bed with her face contorted in pain. Kurama crossed his arms and glared across the room. This was Naruto's job. This was Naruto's problem. How he'd gotten saddled with this was a mystery. Literally.

Something drew his eyes to glance down at her again. Sakura was clenching at the sheets now, gazing up at him.

"Wh—Where—ergh, Naruto!" She managed to bite the words out between the pangs of the long contraction.

"He will return. Shut up." He snapped angrily. Naruto's voice came out instead of his, making him sound positively impotent. Kurama raised his lip again, irritated.

She managed to take a deep, shuddering breath after the contraction ended. Then she leveled Kurama with a deadly glare.

"No. What happened to Naruto?" She demanded, propping herself up on her elbows angrily.

"Sakura, please don't." Shizune said.

"Where's Naruto?" She said again, her glare melting away into worry as fresh tears beginning to run down her cheeks. Kurama didn't move from where he stood, arms crossed. But he did offer another glance at her. "Is he alright? Is Naruto okay?" She asked, leaning forward further. Her voice had taken on a tone of pleading, and she reached out, trying to clutch at the fabric of his shirt which was just a little too far.

"Sakura, please," Shizune said, looking between Tsunade and Sakura helplessly. Tsunade watched the exchange from her seat silently, her eyes serious and calculating.

"He will be fine." Kurama told her finally after a touch of exasperation briefly crossed his features. Naruto had asked him desperately, childishly, for one thing. With obvious discomfort, he shifted a step closer, then reached out and took her hand into his. It wasn't a gentle touch, nor one with any love. It was rough, cold, and almost condescending. Honestly, it reminded her a little of the time a teacher had grabbed her by the hand and stiffly pulled her along to sit in the corner. "Lie down." He commanded, pushing the hand he held back toward her. She plopped onto the pillow with an exhausted glare. To her surprise, he did not let go of her hand.

"What happened?" She asked. There was a part of her that wanted to crush that hand into pulp. Or maybe throw him across the room. Instead, however, she waited desperately for an answer.

"He—" Kurama started, but Sakura screamed again, interrupting him. He waited silently, the picture of uncomfortable impatience, for her to finish. Shizune thought he looked a bit like a grumpy child unwillingly tethered to his parent's hand.

"He is resting," Kurama finished lamely once she was done screaming, eyes diverting. Sakura looked painfully concerned. Tsunade, on the other hand, was glaring at him from her seat across the room.

"Resting?" She repeated. Her voice was quiet, but it was edged with razors. She was angry. Really angry. _Resting_? Naruto was _resting_ while Sakura struggled through labor for the first time? It took every piece of willpower she had to not stand and shake him until he reappeared. She didn't care that she'd be shaking _the_ Nine-Tailed Fox. She would tear him to pieces right now if it weren't for the way Sakura stared at him with the most pleading, sad gaze. And no anger at all.

Something was very wrong here.

The weight loss, Naruto's shakiness, Sakura defending him, and now _this_? Apparently, in the month Tsunade had been outside Konoha, a lot had happened. She pursed her lips, clenched one trigger-happy hand into the other, and sat still. She could kill Naruto—or the Nine-Tailed Fox, or both—some other time. For now, she had to control her anger. Somehow.

"He'd better get his ass back out here. Fast." She said after managing her anger a bit more. Hurling a seething admonition at Kurama would have to be all she did for now. His narrowed eyes flicked to hers, and for a short moment they shared a dark, lethal glare.

Then Sakura's voice tore through the room once again, and she leaned forward in agony.

"The contractions are closer together," Shizune commented, worry in her voice. "He should be coming soon." She lifted her eyes to Kurama meaningfully, and he met her gaze for just a second before his eyes slid away again, down to Sakura. Kurama had lived for centuries. He thought he had experienced just about everything. But somehow, Naruto had placed him into the most ridiculous situation he could have imagined. That _idiot_.

He took a moment to focus his mind inward so that he floated halfway between worlds. Naruto was still relegated into an unconscious state deep in their mindscape, so Kurama wasn't sure he could reach him at all. He tried anyway, extending his mind toward the faded, blurred form of Naruto deep in their shared space.

"Will you hurry up?" He snapped impatiently. "Your spawn is coming."

—

Naruto was drifting.

His own thoughts washed over him in slow, lapping waves. He knew, for a brief moment, that there was something extremely pressing he had to do—somewhere he had to _be. _But in another undulating, rocking movement of his mind, that concept swirled from his thoughts, leaving him blessedly tranquil again.

He was comfortable.

A familiar voice told him to hurry. Someone important was coming. It was someone he should be there to greet, he thought with alarm. Then the thought washed away and he relaxed again, drifting.

The cycle continued quietly, gently. Hurry, Naruto. That deep voice he knew so well was tugging at him so very urgently now, trying to grab and pull, but it wouldn't find purchase for long when Naruto was sliding from one thought to the next so fluidly.

—

"Get Naruto!" Sakura screamed at him in the brief pause she had between contractions.

"Do you think I'm not trying?" Kurama snarled back angrily. Sakura was no longer paying attention, however. Her screaming had become almost perpetual now.

"He's coming, Sakura! You're almost there!" Shizune called encouragingly.

"No!" She cried with a sob before screaming again. "Wait!" She knew Shinachiku couldn't hear her, nevermind understand. But if he could just wait a little longer.

Shinachiku wasn't waiting.

"His head's almost through. Just a few more pushes, Sakura." Tsunade said. She'd gotten up and was standing across from Kurama, mopping Sakura's forehead with a cool, damp cloth.

Sakura wanted only one thing more than to be done with this horrible, painful childbirth. She was willing to endure it indefinitely if it meant having Naruto at her side to meet their son. But Shinachiku did not know about his father's disappearance. He was ready to come now.

"No! Naruto! Please, _NARUTO!_" She cried desperately. He had to be here for this. He _had_ to.

—

Naruto's intangible eyes opened and shut slowly, relaxed. He was being carried on such gentle currents, so far away from everything.

Someone new was calling for him now. He could hear her voice like an echo far, far away.

That was Sakura, he realized. And the other one, that had been Kurama. Kurama, who had understood him through this dark time far more than he'd realized.

Naruto slowly latched onto Sakura's voice and pulled himself toward it. There was an uneasy feeling forming inside of him, and increasingly his mind was moving direly toward her.

—

Kurama's eyes grew wide, and he felt his shoulders sag slightly in relief. "_Move over!_" was the last thing he heard before he was back inside Naruto, once again in his normal form.

"Finally," he muttered, lying down. His ear flicked and he snorted, listening to the events outside.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said, clutching her sweaty, slippery hand as though it were his lifeline.

"Na-Naruto," her voice warbled, high pitched. With her next contraction, she wailed a cry that expressed equal parts pain and relief.

"I'm here," he said. _I'm so sorry,_ he thought, guilt clenching at his heart. He had abandoned her in her greatest moment of need. A feeling of annoyance washed through him. _Not this again,_ Kurama rumbled, but it wasn't a voice. It was more like a thought. A feeling. Had they just—

He couldn't consider that further because suddenly, with one last push, Shizune cried out in triumph.

"It's a boy!" She said.

And then a sound filled the room that put Naruto into a state of such calm that he almost wondered if he'd blacked out again. The baby's wailing cry was a sound of redemption and joy.

Tsunade gave a quick, experienced flick of her finger with chakra and severed the umbilical cord, then Shizune carried him up and immediately placed him into Sakura's awaiting arms. She cried with relief and held her tiny son, wiping some childbirth debris from his short fuzz of yellow hair.

"Shinachiku," she murmured, "welcome." Then she smiled up at Naruto as Shizune and Tsunade began to clean him off more thoroughly. They swaddled him up safely in a small orange blanket.

Naruto could only tear his eyes away from their son for a second to return Sakura's smile and squeeze her hand. Then, once again, his gaze shifted to Shinachiku. To his son.

When Tsunade held the bundled, crying baby out to Sakura again, she nodded her chin to Naruto instead. He needed to hold Shinachiku.

Tsunade complied, walking around the bed to his side almost in slow motion. Naruto was frozen in place, but still he raised his arms numbly to gather the tiny, crying child to his chest.

And then he smiled. Tears slid down his face, but for the first time in so long, he was feeling nothing but pure, uncontaminated joy.

He was happy.

He was so, _so_ happy.

"Shinachiku," he whispered, his voice so filled with tenderness that Sakura could only look on with her own tears.

Everything that had been going through Naruto's mind, everything that had been crushing him and prodding him and tearing him apart for the past eight months receded. Naruto only vaguely acknowledged that it had been there at all, and only to be amazed at how incredible he felt now. How had that nonsense bothered him? How had he ever doubted this? Any of this?

It wasn't a matter of can or can't, should or shouldn't, deserving or undeserving.

He just _would_.

He would protect this child from anything and everything. He would be there, strong and devoted and unfailingly supportive until time itself came to an end. He would be—he _was_—a father. And this was his son.

Nothing would get in the way of that.

Not even himself.

He laughed. He laughed with so much joy that he had to bend down and place the infant into Sakura's awaiting, motherly arms so he could wipe his jubilant tears away.

Shizune and Tsunade cleaned themselves up after delivering the placenta, gave each other knowing smiles, and then stepped out of the room respectfully.

After wiping his tears, Naruto heaved a great sigh of relief and then, with excitement but still with gentleness, shoved Sakura over and plunked himself into the bed next to her. She jolted with surprise at the sudden movement, then leveled him with an annoyed—though only mildly so—stare.

"Sakura-chan, look at him," he said, ignoring her stare. "He's perfect," he breathed. He reached out to the baby in her arms and brushed his thumb over the tiny boy's cheek. Sakura grinned.

"I know," she said in a sobbing laugh, her cheeks still wet with tears. Naruto laughed again, unable to limit his joy even a little. This baby, his baby, Shinachiku. He was the most amazing thing Naruto had ever seen.

He dove into his mindscape and looked up at Kurama, his arms in the air.

"Did you see him!?" He asked joyously. Kurama huffed, turning his head where he lay to look away from Naruto. "You gotta see him, Kurama!" He ran around the massive beast's head to look him in the eye. "You—just, you gotta!"

And then with a strange, warping sensation, Kurama was sitting up in the bed with Sakura cuddled next to him. The tiny child was suckling at her breast now. Sakura noticed his halting, stiffened movement and turned to look back up at him, but her serene face immediately morphed into anger.

"You again," she spat, rage rippling through her words. Then Kurama was gone, replaced with Naruto. She narrowed her eyes. "What is going _on_, Naruto?" She demanded.

"I was showing him." He said, grinning.

"What about earlier?" She asked, the edge falling away from her voice quickly.

"Oh." He rubbed the back of his head. "I passed out. He kinda saved my ass there." He chuckled with embarrassment. It was amazing to him all over again that he could feel guilty without it consuming him. He didn't even worry that it _might_ consume him.

It wasn't as though Shinachiku had been some magical cure. In fact, it was the opposite. He'd been waiting for, _relying on_ some magical cure to take it all away. And the simple act of doing so had robbed him of his own power.

There was no way to fight something that he had simultaneously been feeding.

But he didn't blame himself. In the past it had seemed to happen that way. His life had taken an unexpected, amazing turn for the better. And it hadn't felt like his choice in the matter. Iruka-sensei, Sakura-chan, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei... they had appeared to make it all happen for him, like magic.

Somehow he'd forgotten about his own hand in all of that. He could have chosen to wallow in misery, but he had refused.

This time, Shinachiku was the one who came to him and made him realize the choice he had before him. The power he had in his hands to make this tiny life—and his own life—a wonderful, happy experience. He smiled at the thought, his gaze magnetized to his beautiful child.

Then his eyes widened at the sight, the _whole_ sight before him. "Woah, Sakura-chan. Your boobs got HUGE." He said, his smile becoming more excited.

"Naruto!" She chided incredulously. She jerked her head away from him, expression filled with angry embarrassment. And then she smiled, more tears of joy seeping from her eyes. He seemed _normal_ again. Maybe she'd been right. Maybe Shinachiku was all he had needed.

"Wow," Naruto mused in his mental space, back to being half with Kurama and half with Sakura. "I was so out of it I didn't even _notice_." He gestured to his chest to imply a huge set of breasts. Then he snickered excitedly.

"_You._" Kurama snapped, rounding on him. "I see you're better now. Good. So then let me tell you." He suddenly flicked Naruto over with a clawed finger, then slammed his monstrous hand down on top of him, holding him in place. "I died a thousand deaths out there while you were unconscious. You will never, _ever _do that again."

Naruto blinked up at him. He chuckled for a short moment.

"Thank you." He said very seriously. "I don't know what I would have done without you there." He smiled serenely then, his eyes filled with gentle appreciation. Kurama snorted, picked Naruto up and tossed him off to the side somewhere unceremoniously.

"Oy! I said _thank you_, you jerk!" Naruto shouted at him angrily after he'd tumbled to a stop. "What the hell was that, anyway?" He asked more calmly once he had stood again. "It was like I was you," he narrowed his eyes into slits, looking confused. "Or something."

"I don't know." Kurama growled, his head turned away again, sounding miffed. "But stay out of my mind, and don't put me into your disgusting body." Then he somehow _pushed_ Naruto, sending him out of his own mental space and severing that strange, _feeling _connection he'd been mildly experiencing with Kurama the entire time.

He didn't mind. He had more important people to deal with right now.

As soon as he was back, he drew his arm across Sakura and pulled both her and his son closer to him. He tucked his head just against hers, his chin on her shoulder, and the two gazed down at their beautiful, perfect little child in serene joy.

Then Sakura pulled away a little bit, so she could look at his face. Really look at him.

"Naruto," she said softly, her voice so very gentle. "How are you? Are you going to be alright?" There was concern edging her eyes and lips, but so, _so_ much hope in them too.

"Yeah," he said, confident and tranquil. "I'm okay. Everything is okay." He laughed then, softly. "Actually," he corrected, "everything is _perfect_."

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><p>Please comment, review, and tell me what you think! This has been a wild journey for me. I never expected this plotline to become so in-depth and serious. Like, wow. What an adventure this became. Thanks for sticking with me (and poor, poor Naruto) through it!<p>

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)<br>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)  
>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)<br>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)  
>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)<br>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	25. A Tiny Crush

Ah, back to the normal tone of the story. xD I have gotten a little bit of interest in posting more chapters after October. Since I still have a handful of headcanons (and will probably have too many to fit into the next 6 days), I most likely will. But trust me, I will not be posting daily in that case. Not anymore. o_o *haunted stare*

I keep asking people for prompts and then going off on a mental tangent and writing something completely different, but I still want to thank **booklover9** for the inspiration that lead to the inspiration for this chapter. Or something xD

By the way, that last set of chapters has got so much scrap from pieces I took out or changed that I literally have an entire chapter's worth of unused (or strongly altered) material. It's a lot of trash!

Once again, I want to thank you all for your kind and beautiful reviews. They are the reason I've been able to post daily thus far, make no mistake. Thank you all for keeping me going!

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><p>Emiko was ten when her interest abruptly shifted from playing to reading. She read, and read, and <em>read<em>.

"You're so _boring!_" Minako would cry at her as she poked her head into the door of the redhead's room. Emiko would be sitting on her bed surrounded by scrolls. Or, if she needed more room, she'd move herself to the floor and lie down on her stomach, feet kicking idly in the air while she read through scroll after scroll. Sometimes, she even took notes.

She always kept her shoes nearby while doing this. Most of the time, Minako ducked fast enough to avoid getting hit, but Emiko's strong sensory skills gave her an edge. She often pre-empted her sister's annoying remarks and had the shoe in flight before Minako's blonde head even popped into the doorway.

"Just ignore her," Sakura told her over and over and _over_. Well, ignoring her didn't work. Heck, shoes to the face didn't work either. They just made Emiko feel a little better.

So it was an incredible blessing when Emiko passed an open door in the Hokage Tower one day and found a room _filled_ with scrolls. Her green eyes sparkled with excitement as she snuck in. She was in heaven.

And _surely_ Dad sensed immediately when she had ventured in, and _surely_ he would have said something if he didn't want her in there. So she stayed. And she felt eternally grateful that Dad _didn't_ come bother her—because he could be just as bad as Minako.

Three hours later, she had worked halfway through the first scroll in a set detailing the First Shinobi World War. It was a topic that school tended to pass over without offering heavy detail, and she was soaking it up. She noticed, with a frown, that she could no longer sense Dad's chakra in the tower. She must have been too wrapped up to sense his departure. He hadn't even said goodbye. He probably would have said goodbye if it were Shinachiku or Minako. She gave a little huff, feeling left out yet again, but it didn't really matter anyway.

Suddenly, she felt someone's chakra approaching and froze in place. She hoped that, like the others, it would simply pass by. The difference this time, however, was that Dad wasn't safely in his office to take care of anyone who yelled at her. The chakra stopped at the door. Emiko felt her shoulders shrink, but she otherwise did not move. The door slid open. It was one of the longest moments of her life.

Her brother's sensei walked into the room.

Shikamaru gave her a moderately bored stare, then gestured for her to come with him. "Put those away first." He commanded before departing from the room.

It felt like a walk to her death. All she knew about Shikamaru-sensei was what Shinachiku had told her. He was strict. He never smiled. No one could outsmart him, not even a little. That last part seemed cool, but the rest... the rest was scary.

Emiko hated getting in trouble.

By the time they had stepped into his office and he turned around to address her—probably to let her know what her punishment was for reading confidential material—she was already softly crying.

Shikamaru froze, eyes widening a hair. Then he gave a quiet sigh through his nose and muttered "Troublesome."

"I'm sorry!" She cried immediately. "My dad can sense, and I thought—I thought if he didn't mind I was in there then it was okay. I'm sorry! I swear I won't do it again! But my sister is so annoying, and I can never read, and all I want to do is read, but my family doesn't understand, and it's _not FAIR!_" She wailed, tears streaming down her face and fists balled at her sides.

Shikamaru stared at her, hands in his pockets, for quite a few seconds. Then he reached behind him without looking, snagged a handkerchief from a table, and handed it to her.

"You dad asked me to play Shougi with you while he dealt with something across the village." He said. Then he raised his eyebrow a little and sighed again. "But if you don't want to play, you can read in here." He gestured to the scrolls on his own shelves.

Emiko blinked, thoroughly embarrassed. Then she smiled.

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. They fell into a comfortable routine. Most weekends and some weekdays she would stop by to spend time in Shikamaru-sensei's office, which included a lot of silent reading and the occasional shougi game.

His time was stretched thin between acting as Dad's advisor and a jounin instructor, but he still managed to make time for shougi with her. It made her feel so special. She started to get abundantly excited whenever she got to see him. It was odd, she passively thought, that the more she got to see him, the more shy she felt when his gaze fell on her. She would get so nervous at times that she'd catch herself fidgeting.

This was the state of their odd little friendship when Sakura, grinning mischievously, pulled Naruto aside one day. He had a free moment between meetings just after sending Guy-sensei on a mission.

"Have you noticed how Emiko gets with Shikamaru? It's precious." She laughed. "She has such a little girl crush on him." Naruto's brows furrowed.

"What." He said abrasively. Then his eyes darted to the side in calculated thought. "I'll kill him," he announced, shifting as though to leave right now.

"_What?_ Naruto, stop, _stop_. _He's_ not doing anything, she's just got a little sweet tooth for him." Once she was sure she'd prevented him from punching Shikamaru in the jaw for absolutely no reason, she eyed him incredulously. "You are unbelievable."

"What? You can't just say that to a man about his daughter. She's _eleven_, Sakura." He said it so confidently that Sakura had to pause herself for a second and reaffirm that he was being a complete idiot. "And what the heck? Why would she... I mean, for one thing, Shikamaru's _married!_" He added, looking scandalized. Yup. Idiot. She pulled him down by the collar, and for a second she saw hopefulness cross his face—probably because there was a 50/50 chance of being hit or kissed when she did that. Then his expression morphed into fear when she raised her balled fist and slammed it onto the top of his head. "Yow!" He cried.

"Naruto. Seriously." She said flatly. "It's just puppy love. It's normal. Didn't you ever have a crush on one of your teachers or something?" She asked.

"Normal?" He asked, rubbing the bump on his head tenderly. "Like, older ladies? No way, that's _weird._ I mean, some of them had nice, you know" he wove his hands through the air as though outlining an hourglass, grinning mischievously. Then, when he saw the dangerous glint in her eyes, he immediately covered his head, taking a step back from her. "But you were the only girl I _really_ saw, Sakura-chan!" He added with a jerking nod. She sighed.

"In _any_ case, it _is_ normal, so don't cause any trouble. In fact, just don't say anything about it." Here, she raised her fist again in warning. He gave that same jerking nod. Then he suddenly stopped, lowering his hands and tilting his head at her.

"Wait, did _you_ have a crush on one of your teachers?" He asked. Her lips curved into the tiniest smile.

"Not exactly," she said. "But... I _may_ have thought one of the jounin instructors was pretty cute." The look of childish jealousy that crossed Naruto's face could have made her double over in laughter, but with enough self control she managed to get away with just an amused snort.

"W-which one!?" He demanded, fists balled.

"Not telling. Never telling," she quipped, still trying not to laugh. His face was almost painfully adorable right now.

"It wasn't Kakashi-sensei, was it!?" His lip raised in horrified disgust as he said it.

"Pfft. No way. Not a lazy guy like him." She said, rolling her eyes. Naruto wracked his brain for a not-lazy jounin instructor they'd known as children. The first one that came to mind had just been in his office, and he spat it out without thinking.

"Then it was Bushy Brows-sensei!" He cried, pointing at her accusingly. All of Sakura's humor evaporated. She blinked long and slow before re-opening her eyes.

They shone with murder.

"Guy-sensei?" She spoke slowly, her voice cold and seething with quiet rage. "_Guy-sensei? _You think I had a crush on _Guy-sensei?_"

Naruto, his eyes wide and his mouth a tiny, horrified smile, stepped backward.

"S-Sakura-chan, I was just, ahh, I was just kidding?" He raised his hands in front of him, palms out in placation.

He withered before her as she stalked forward, her fists at the ready.

"Open the window." She ordered, eyes narrowed. Naruto didn't question it. He turned and just about slammed himself bodily into the window in his awkward, anxious clamor for the latch. He had scarcely flung it open when she sent him flying out of it with a herculean kick.

"YAH!" He cried in mid-air before righting himself and landing nimbly on the street below. "Sakura-chan!" He shouted back up at her indignantly.

"I was just kidding." She called down, mockingly.

Then she slammed the window shut.

* * *

><p>Guess that only leaves one instructor... xD<p>

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)** * You Are Here**  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	26. A Not-So-Tiny Crush, Part 1

He had never seen what was so special about girls. He watched his classmates move from one phase to the next: befriending girls, then antagonizing them, and then befriending them in a whole new way. He'd idly considered a few of them attractive in one way or another, but he was just as interested in his friends, his training, his family, and his education.

Then, in the span of a few months, he suddenly began to experience strange waves of embarrassment, an occasionally cracking voice, and the strangest, most _interesting_ dreams.

He liked girls.

His friends had been encouraging him to get a girlfriend, and more than a few of his female classmates had shown interest in him, so his confidence was rightfully high. Unfortunately, none of _those_ girls had ever interested him much. They were always giggling and talking about the most nonsensical things, as though their heads were filled with nothing but air. What did looks matter if a girl didn't have brains and a good pair of balls on them? Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Despite being disinterested in girls as a whole for longer than his peers had been, there was one he'd noticed more than once. She wasn't so much like the other girls. She was smart, brutally honest, and she didn't seem scared to tell people off when they bothered her. Including the guys that had pursued her. He realized, in retrospect, that he'd been watching her for quite some time. Unfortunately, she was a year older than him and, on top of that, she'd moved on from the academy early—the fact that she was training with a _legendary_ sensei at the time most likely had something to do with that. But once he decided that he quite liked girls, he was sure that yes, she would be a good choice.

The problem was that his sensei kept him too busy with missions and his father with training to even get a chance to introduce something like that into his life. But, not too long after becoming a chuunin, he found that his father's focus had shifted to his little sister. He was finally granted the freedom he'd been seeking for so many years.

Turns out, it was perfect timing anyway. For the first time in years, it looked like he would get all the chances in the world to talk to her without her weird, quiet sister hanging around.

There was just one other problem: she was the Hokage's daughter.

But _that_ would never stop Uchiha Kosuke.

—

Kozakura had finished some training with her mother and was resting on a tree branch when she saw one of her former classmates approaching. It was the Uchiha kid. She had never really gotten to know him, but he had been popular with a lot of the girls and never seemed to have a deficit of friends. She expected him to pass by under her and keep moving, so she closed her eyes and mused over what Umeko might be doing now that she was a member of Konoha's ANBU. Was she having fun now in ANBU training? Was it hard? Her mouth formed a small pout thinking about it. She was proud of her sister, sure, but that couldn't stop her from feeling a little self-conscious. And that was what 15 year olds did, right? She sighed.

"Hey." Her eyes flicked back open, and she leaned to peer down at the black-haired boy.

"Hi." She said back quite simply. A part of her told her that she should hop down and show him some respect by talking to him face to face. Umeko wouldn't have done that, though. Meh.

"Come down here." He said after a moment. With a flat stare, she hopped out of the tree and faced him.

"What do you want?" She asked, putting a hand on her hip. She'd been told that she looked even more like her mother when she did that.

"I'm asking you on a date." He said it very frankly, gazing straight at her with no sense of illusion. Kozakura tentatively glanced behind her, as though he were talking to someone else. Then she frowned.

"Why?" She asked, crossing her arms. He shrugged.

"Because I like you." He seemed altogether too calm about this.

"I've barely even talked to you," she said it with a level of confusion, but there was no longer a hard edge to her voice.

"Yeah, but I noticed you're smart. And you like to tell people off. I like that." He smirked then, one hand in his pocket.

Somewhere, deep inside, Kozakura knew that he was more than a little strange to approach her so suddenly like this. She didn't even know his given name. Somewhere deep inside, she also knew that her dad was weirdly overprotective about stuff like this. Emiko never shut up about _that_. Somewhere, deep, _deep_ inside, a part of her thought she should tell him to buzz off.

She swooned instead.

"Really?" She asked, pressing her hands to her reddened cheeks.

"Yeah." He offered an outstretched hand to her.

She just about leapt forward to take it in her own. The two strolled away, hand in hand, and Kozakura maintained a steady blush as they did.

"So," she started after they'd discussed where to go on their date—ice cream had been the consensus. "What's your name again?" She giggled nervously.

"Kosuke," he told her, smiling charmingly. She couldn't believe how lucky she'd gotten. Umeko may have become ANBU, but Kozakura had a _boyfriend_.

She made sure to giggle at his every joke. Compliment his every choice. She even glanced into the reflective glass of the ice cream case and straightened her hair when he wasn't paying attention. She normally _never _bothered with stuff like that. But she had to be at her best for Kosuke.

By the time their date had ended, she knew she was in love.

—

By the time their date had ended, Kosuke knew he had made a mistake.

She wasn't the tell-it-like-it-is girl he remembered in school. In fact, she was more of a tell-what-you-want-to-hear girl. No matter what he said, she agreed with an obnoxious giggle. She even preened herself in the glass like some kind of beauty queen. What the hell had happened? She had turned into one of _those _girls.

After heading home and brooding a little, however, he decided to give her a chance. Perhaps it had just been first date jitters. Maybe she would be back to herself when she was more comfortable with him. Plus, she _was _the Hokage's daughter. If he managed to pull off dating one of _those_, he'd impress a lot of his friends. He held on for a few more outings (he dutifully avoided thinking of them as dates any longer) before it came to a head.

—

They hadn't planned planned a date for today, but Kozakura knew that Kosuke picked up a package for his mother every Thursday at around the same time, then took this particular route toward home. She was sitting on a bench waiting patiently for him now. He would be so surprised to see her!

She was certain they'd been on enough dates now that it was fine time for their first kiss. She'd already mentioned the relationship to her mother, who'd nearly dropped a dish in response.

"And... your father knows?" Sakura had asked.

"Uh, I would assume," Kozakura responded with a shrug and the slight air of attitude. Her mother looked slightly indecisive for a moment, then stepped forward and cupped her cheek.

"I trust you. Just don't let your heart overcome your mind. You're sensitive like me, and that can sometimes lead to mistakes. You understand that, right Kozakura?" She hated when her mother took on that condescending tone.

"Mom, I'm fifteen." She said, placing a hand on her hip. Sakura gave her an impatient raise of an eyebrow, but her mouth curled into a resigned smile.

"So you are," she had agreed.

So it was with her mother's blessing (more or less) that Kozakura sat awaiting Kosuke. He rounded the corner just on schedule and blanched at the sight of her.

"Kozakura," he said, smiling with adorable shyness when he saw her. Despite being so confident, he had the sweetest streak of timidity at times.

"Hi Kosuke! Come sit with me for a little!" She said, patting the bench next to her. He looked hesitant for a second—probably because his mother wanted her package quickly and he was such a good little son. She grinned at the thought as he sat down. She sighed, admiring him for a while before he finally spoke.

"So, what are you doing here?" He asked, donning a muted smile.

"I was waiting for you." She said. His smile increased fractionally.

"Oh," was all he said.

"I was thinking," she continued after a pause. "I think we've been dating long enough now that, well, maybe we should have our first kiss?" She suppressed an excited giggle and instead stared at him with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Um, I am a little busy right now actually," he said.

"I know you sometimes stop to get a drink on your way home, so you can't be in _that _much of a rush, silly," she said, poking him on the shoulder playfully. He was beginning to look _so _nervous now. It was just too cute for her to handle.

"Yeah! Well, I'm thirsty, so—" He blurted before she leapt up to interrupt him suddenly.

"I'll get you your favorite! Just wait right here!" She chimed, making a mad dash toward the convenience store.

—

Kosuke leaned back against the bench in horror. He needed to get rid of her _now_. Before he could stand to follow her, however, he sensed an attack.

He backflipped and then spun on his hands, forcing the attacker to dodge to the left, but as he flipped back onto his feet, activating his sharingan in the process, she tripped him with a wire and was immediately standing above him.

It was a member of ANBU.

It was that weird, quiet identical twin sister of hers.

He swallowed, feeling the lump in his throat fight to get past the toe of her sandal jammed against it.

"If you do _anything _to take advantage of my sister, I will make you regret it, you little Uchiha stain." She growled out. Then, with one fluid motion, she tore her mask off and crouched down to stare him in the eye. "You understand?"

Kosuke was speechless. Her cold, piercing eyes weren't Kozakuras, even if they were. Her cropped, pink hair wasn't Kozakura's, even if it was. The thin gash of a frown across her face that was lined with two pink lips wasn't Kozakura's, even if it was.

Somehow, it was all far, far more beautiful.

Now _this _was a girl he could date.

* * *

><p>Welp, this is [part of] the continuation of the UmekoKozakura chapter I posted earlier. I wanted to expand it further, but I didn't have the time tonight. I kind of accidentally worked on about 3 different chapters because I kept getting mini inspirations but not quite a full vision for any of them. Even this chapter feels very... eh to me. Hope it's okay to you guys. ;-;

I'm more excited about the next part, though. Haha, let's see how this unfolds!

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)** * You Are Here**  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	27. Momma's Boy

;-; it finally happened. *dejected* I missed a deadline. This chapter is officially 4 hours late. So I missed the actual 27th! The other thing that's bad is that the Kozakura/Kosuke/Umeko continuation is not here today. I was struggling with that one a lot, and regardless of how many ideas I came up with and began to write, none of them seemed to link up right for me. I don't know if it's mood or what, but I've definitely got some writer's block on that. Dang. In any case, I whipped this up tonight in the past few hours. I've been planning to write this one for some time, so it was nice to get it out finally.

Once again, thank you thank you THANK YOU for all of your phenomenal and wonderful reviews. I still have to respond to a lot of you. ;-; You have no idea how much it motivates and inspires me to get those, so thank you, honestly. I'll try to get all the chapters up on time from now on.

Since I'm undergoing a little uninspiration, or something, if you guys would like to make suggestions then now is the time. Whether they be original ideas, predictions for some of my already-established children, or just random little mini-thoughts, I will definitely appreciate them and put them to use, even if it's just to inspire me in some other way.

Thank you for all of your kind support! Also, I CAN'T BELIEVE I DROPPED THE BALL WHEN I HAVE LESS THAN A WEEK LEFT *sob*

Well, enjoy!

* * *

><p>"Talk about a momma's boy," Ino commented dryly.<p>

"He just knows a good lady when he sees one." Naruto said, chin rested in his hand. He had an almost dreamy look as he watched Sakura rock their three-year-old in her arms, humming a soft tune. Shinachiku was hiccuping back his tears after crying for the ten minutes Sakura had left the house.

"Wow. Don't make me sick." Ino muttered. Despite all of the complaining she did about the Uzumaki children, she spent a significant amount of time helping out with them. The infant Emiko was in her arms, jerking a small plastic keyring toy around while she sucked on a pacifier.

Naruto, ignoring her, stood to admire his wife more closely. She smiled when he approached, and he ruffled Shinachiku's hair, noting that the boy had closely watched his approach with attentive green eyes, though he did not lift his head from lying against his mother's chest. Naruto stepped closer to her, raising his arms to embrace her. Then, very suddenly, Shinachiku reached his own arm out and halted his father's approach with a tiny hand to Naruto's chest. He stared straight up at him humorlessly, head still nuzzled against his mother.

Neither could help it; they both burst out laughing.

"You are too cute, Shinachiku," Sakura told him, planting a kiss on his forehead.

Naruto was thoroughly amused by the behavior and even bragged about it (like he did everything else Uzumaki-baby-related) to his friends—and anyone who would listen, really.

He couldn't be more proud of his sweet little boy, even if Shinachiku had a little bit of a spoiled streak when it came to Sakura. It was cute.

But then it started to get old.

Fast.

Shinachiku had crawled into bed between the two more than once, complaining of a nightmare. At first Naruto thought it was adorable, but then he started to get tired of watching Shinachiku get all of _his_ goodnight kisses.

It was the day Naruto returned from a two-day-long mission that he realized something had to be done. Long before reaching home, he'd sensed Sakura sitting with Emiko in her arms and Shinachiku playing with his toys on the floor. When he walked in, Sakura had stood, a look of excited relief on her features. She began crossing the room to greet him when suddenly Shinachiku shrieked in pain and began to wail.

Both halted and immediately diverted their attention to him. Sakura handed Emiko to Naruto and picked him up, coddling him and asking what had happened. His chin was resting on her shoulder while her back was to Naruto, and that's when it happened. Shinachiku looked at him. He looked his father dead in the eye.

And smirked.

Then he was kissing Sakura on the cheek and cooing "Mama" at her while she applied some healing chakra to a boo-boo that... _that_ _wasn't even there_.

"He—He did it on purpose!" Naruto cried, pointing a finger accusingly and jarring Emiko awake with his sudden movement. She immediately began to cry, her shriek piercing the air.

"Naruto!" Sakura scolded.

"Ah, sorry Emiko-chan," he said, rocking the infant.

"I just got her to sleep," Sakura said, her voice worn thin with exhaustion. She had a hand pressed to her forehead. "And who did what on purpose?" She added as a quiet aside, almost a moan.

"Sorry Mommy," Shinachiku said, pouting his lip out.

"It wasn't your fault, dear," she said softly, kissing him on the head.

"He's not—_I'm_ dear!" Naruto said, his voice slightly less loud this time but still just as accusatory. Sakura froze, turning her gaze on him with an expression bordering disgust.

"Naruto." She couldn't even seem to form the rest of her words, instead opening her mouth and then shaking her head, closing it again. Then she placed Shinachiku down. "I'm taking a nap. Welcome home, _dear_."

Then she stepped out of the room. It was the first time Naruto had missed out on a welcome-home kiss since the two had started their romance.

"You." He rounded on Shinachiku, the quietly sobbing Emiko still in his arms. The little blonde laughed and then darted out of the room. By the time Naruto caught up with him while trying to ensure that Emiko didn't start crying again, the little terror had already crawled into bed with Sakura and was cuddled protectively under her arm.

She was so close to drifting off, her eyes blinking slowly shut, that she missed Shinachiku shoot Naruto another devilish smirk.

He clenched his fist and clamped down on everything he wanted to say at that moment.

That little homewrecker_._

—

"He's trying to steal Sakura-chan from me," Naruto told Iruka the next day over breakfast. Sakura had taken Shinachiku for a haircut bright and early, leaving the house to Naruto and Emiko. He'd been pleasantly surprised to sense his former teacher passing nearby and hailed him in.

Iruka was having a hard time keeping a straight face.

"Naruto..." he started gently. Then he snorted a little, unable to maintain his self control. He played it off as a cough, rubbing his mouth in the hope that his smile would tame. "Your son is three," he managed to say after collecting himself.

"You shouldda seen him, Iruka-sensei! You wouldn't be saying that if you'd seen the way he smirked at me like—like a little devil!" Naruto stood as he spoke, pacing around. Emiko was still sound asleep in her crib upstairs, but he kept his voice slightly lower than usual anyway.

"I wouldn't be saying that he's three?" Iruka asked, playing off the deadpan remark almost innocently.

"You know what I mean!" Naruto cried. He would have continued, but Emiko chose that moment to awaken and begin her piercing wail once again.

Iruka took that chance to step outside where he could have a good laugh.

—

The others didn't believe Naruto, either.

"I swear, you didn't see his _face_," he told Hinata for the third time. She nodded with a polite smile for the third time.

"I'm sure he has his reasons, though, Naruto-kun," she offered, taking another sip of tea.

"Aw, Hinata, don't _you_ side with him too." He whined dejectedly.

"Naruto-kun, he's just a baby..." she said, a gentle skepticism in her voice.

"He's _three_, Hinata!" He shouted. In the silence that followed, both of them seemed to acknowledge the lunacy of his statement, glancing at the floor awkwardly.

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and then sighed. Hinata's expression softened then, and she reached out to place a hand on his where he had laid it on the table.

"Naruto-kun, have you tried talking to Sak—"

"That's the problem!" He interrupted, jumping up in his agitation. "She likes him better than me!"

"Naruto-kun..." she murmured with some measure of worry, placing her fingertips to her cheek.

He was too excited to finish his tea with her at that point. With a snort and an exclamation about fixing things man-to-man, he was off, leaving Hinata carefully rescuing a priceless, clattering tea set from falling onto the floor in his wake.

—

He landed at home just a few seconds later.

"There you are. I'm going to give Emiko her bath." Sakura said with a grateful smile. She gave him a quick peck on the lips and then stepped out of the room. When Naruto turned to face Shinachiku, the three-year-old was glaring up at him jealously.

"Yeah, not this time." He said, smirking. Then he widened his stance. "Alright, little man. It's time to settle this once and for all." He said, his fingers twitching at his sides in reminiscence of that cowboy film he'd taken Sakura to see years ago.

Shinachiku stood and took a similarly confrontational stance, though he crossed his arms and puffed out his chest. His petulant frown and chubby little cheeks were hard to see as anything but cute. But Naruto wasn't fooled.

Then, without warning, he darted away again, giggling devilishly. Naruto dashed after him, sliding around the corner and grabbing for his ankle. The little brat got away with a shriek of laughter, though, then dove into his bedroom. As soon as Naruto entered, he was assaulted by plush toy after plush toy. He swatted them away effortlessly, barely appearing to move at all with his incredibly fast reflexes. Then, after getting bored, he simply stood and let them bounce off.

"Is that all you've got?" He asked, shaking his head with a self-satisfied look.

Shinachiku seemed to notice how ineffectual it was as well because the next thing he grabbed was the wooden puppet toy that Kankuro had made for his third birthday.

"Take this!" He cried, running forward with it clutched over his head in both hands. Then, when he was point blank, he threw it straight at his father with his best battle cry. Naruto didn't bother moving, a smug smile on his face.

Until it crashed exactly where nothing, _nothing ever_, should crash.

"YOW!" He cried, doubling over with his knees buckling in and his hands clutched at his crotch. Shinachiku took a moment to fall over as well, though his was in amusement rather than distress. He howled with laughter, wiping tears from his eyes. Then, as Naruto stood back up, his expression filled with anger, Shinachiku darted straight past him and back out of the room.

The chase began anew, with Shinachiku knocking into furniture and Naruto tearing around corners, making the walls shake.

"What are you _doing,_ Naruto!?" He heard Sakura's voice howl from the bathroom at one point. It only spurred him on faster, determined to win the battle before she came out and rewarded the little hellion for his fiendish behavior.

It was time to take things seriously.

When Shinachiku tumbled back into the living room amongst more of his toys, Naruto pounced onto him and delivered the final blow: a tickle attack.

Shinachiku shrieked and squirmed with laughter and, as predicted, was losing the battle quickly. It would all be over soon.

But all at once, Sakura stomped into the room, her hair a wet mess and Emiko in her arms.

"Naruto and Shinachiku. Why, if I may ask, does the hallway look like a battleground?" She demanded, voice edged with irritation. Emiko continued to tug at her hair while she spoke.

The two had frozen immediately and stared wide-eyed at her.

"He started it!" Shinachiku shouted suddenly, pointing at his dad.

"What!? No way Sakura-chan! He did!" Naruto cried in response. Then, a little more quietly, he said: "You little..." and began another tickle assault, leaving Shinachiku breathless with laughter once again.

Sakura sighed.

Having _those two _children in the house was more than enough. She glanced down at the young Emiko in her arms. At least her third baby was well behaved. The tiny redhead took that chance to spit up and soil herself directly after her bath. Sakura sighed again. At least _most _of the time, she was the good baby of the family.

She could only hope that the one currently in her stomach would be better.

* * *

><p>If only she knew that the one currently in her stomach is Minako.<p>

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)<br>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)  
>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)<br>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	28. A Not-So-Tiny Crush, Part 2

Another late chapter, sorry. ;-; Tomorrow is a ridiculously busy day for me, so I don't plan to be any different then. Honestly, at one point tonight (nearly 3 hours ago), with this chapter only a few scraps, I had decided not to post tonight. Too much to prep for tomorrow! But then I got (mostly) done with prepping and thought hey, who needs sleep? I do. Help. _Why did I do this?_

xD Anyway, thanks for your reviews YET AGAIN. Seriously. I'm just floored by how many I've gotten. When I hit 30 I was in supernova joy mode. To get past 100 was a dream. o_o Thank you all for reading and commenting. You guys are literally the reason why I am writing like a person on crack. ahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...

lmao but also, thank you SO MUCH for the great ideas. I've already gotten some inspiration from a few of them. All of them were great ideas, but my mind kind of morphs things as I write, so they might come out a little different. Even so, I'll credit you! :D

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><p>Kosuke stared up at the beautiful girl with a mildly awed expression, the corners of his lips just barely curved upwards. He struggled through another swallow and then gave her a nod. He understood what she'd said... but he didn't think this twin could make him regret <em>anything<em>.

She stood and stepped back, donning her dog mask once again. Then he saw her glance up toward the trees and realized she was about to depart.

"Wait!" He cried, flipping himself back onto his feet in a well-trained motion. She did. "Listen, it's not working out anyway. With your sister, I mean. I don't want to break her heart or anything, so... any ideas?" Although he could no longer see her face, her body language was completely impassive, offering him no hints as to her thoughts.

"You don't care for her?" She asked, although it sounded far more like a statement than a question. Her voice was slightly muffled under the mask.

"I did, don't get me wrong," Kosuke raised a hand as though asking her to pause. The other was once again in his pocket. "But I think she might be better off with someone else." He added, choosing his words carefully. She remained uncommunicative. He took a step forward, tilting his head as though implying he could peek under her mask despite the distance. "But _you_... you could break my heart anytime you like." He winked, offering her his characteristic smirk.

In one fluid, almost unseeable motion (even with his sharingan activated), she shot forward and punched him in the face. Kosuke landed on his back and skidded several feet before coming to a stop and sitting up. Anything he'd been about to say was halted when he saw Kozakura slowly, solemnly approaching the scene.

"What's going on?" She asked cautiously, gazing at the scene before her.

"He's an idiot. Stay away from him." Umeko stated very simply.

Kozakura came to a stop next to her sister and frowned, although it was one more of disappointment than anger. "Why?" She asked. Then, with a little more defiance to her tone: "I like him."

"He is too sissy to dump you and just hit on me." She answered. Kosuke felt the air drop a few degrees instantly. He could think of only one place he wanted to be right now: anywhere but here.

Kozakura lowered her head so that he couldn't see past her bangs, and her hand was clutching the cold, glass bottle until it was shaking. He could tell she was going to cry, and he hated it when girls cried. He wasn't surprised, then, when she raised her head and her eyes were filled with tears. Only now they weren't Kozakura eyes anymore. They were Umeko eyes.

_Maybe she __**was**__ the one_, he thought ever so briefly—just before she hucked the bottle at him with a war cry. It tore through the pavement at his feet and sent an explosion of cement, dirt, and tomato juice showering over him.

"Keep your stupid drink and your stupid haircut and your stupid ice cream! I _never_ want to talk to you again! _I hate you!_" She shrieked, stomping a second crater into the pavement with tears streaming down her cheeks. Calmly, Umeko sidestepped when the surface she stood on cracked in two and shifted. Then she placed her hand on Kozakura's shoulder.

"Should I kill him?" She asked stolidly.

"No," Kozakura sniffled, wiping her tears. "I don't want you to get in trouble." Umeko gave one short nod in response.

Kosuke sat in stunned silence, his hair gray from the cement dust.

He watched them depart in much the same way.

He couldn't quite believe what had just happened.

It wasn't until he recalled his mother's order that he leapt up, grabbed it, and strolled toward home, a pleasant pace to his step. It had gotten a little complicated, sure. And perhaps he could have given Kozakura a _little _more patience.

But he'd just gone from thinking fate had betrayed him... to realizing it had doubled his chances of getting the girl of his dreams.

—

The following week, Kosuke had accepted that he didn't care much which one it was. Either would have done. Umeko seemed like the greater prize, but now that he knew Kozakura _was _the girl he remembered after all, his flame for her was reignited.

He was going to give it his best shot.

"Listen—" Was all he got out to her before Kozakura slammed the door in his face, her eyes already beginning to brim with angry tears.

"Just give me a sec—" Umeko pivoted and drove a kick straight at his chest. He raised his arms defensively but still skidded backwards against the blow. He hadn't thought she'd attack him while she was on duty guarding a scroll shipment. By the time he had recovered, she'd already leapt away to the other side of the procession, leaving him staring at several passersby awkwardly.

"Look, I screwed up, okay?" He managed to get the entire sentence out to her before Kozakura threw a spray of kunai at his face, forcing him to dodge them all nimbly. She had leapt away across rooftops in the meantime.

"You're the only girl for m—" Umeko's rigid fingers rammed straight against his throat, sending him to the ground gasping for air.

"I know you still have feelings for me." He blurted at Kozakura from behind while she was looking at a new skirt. She turned on him with murder in her eyes and wung the hanger so hard that it embedded itself into the wall behind him.

"The only feeling I have for you is an incredible desire for you to _GO_ _AWAY!_" She shouted, drawing the attention of several other shoppers.

"We'll talk about this later then," he said, winking and departing quickly. He heard her enraged scream and some fabric tearing as he skidded out.

With some dismay, he next found her latched onto the arm of another former classmate of theirs. He offered her a quick "_I can wait,_" and took his leave to the sound of her angry squawking, deciding to focus his attention on Umeko.

She was the more interesting one, anyway.

But she was also the harder one.

—

"Keep your boy away from my daughters!" Naruto called into the Uchiha home as soon as the door opened. He had knocked just once before Sasuke's wife opened it, and she offered him a drink without pause after he'd finished his outburst.

"Ah, thanks," he grinned, anger deflated. He took a seat on the couch and made small talk with her for some time. When Sasuke stepped out from his drafting room carrying a still-wet scroll, Naruto immediately jumped up, remembering why he was here.

"Keep your b—"

"I heard you." Sasuke interrupted, calmly lying the scroll out before his wife. She _hrm_ed at it while the two men sized one another up.

"And?" Naruto asked, crossing his arms and stepping so close to Sasuke that the two almost touched.

"No." Sasuke said it simply. He didn't look particularly angry.

"Teme..." Naruto growled, leaning in closer so that his face was right in the Uchiha's.

"My son can do what he wants. I'm not a control freak like you." He said it calmly, not flinching away from Naruto in the least.

"What!? Your creepy brat is _harassing_ my little girls! How would you feel if Shinachiku were after _your _daughter?" He spat angrily. He obviously hadn't really considered the implications of that because suddenly he was slammed with the killing intent of both the Uchiha before him simultaneously. Sasuke's eyes blazed with rage.

"If your 21-year-old... was after my ten-year-old daughter?" He hissed slowly, pronouncing the words with painful clarity. Naruto stepped back, his anger dissippating once again, but this time with shocked embarrassment. He rubbed the back of his head.

"Ah, that's not... not what I... —ttebayo..." he muttered, expression almost dazed and voice fading into almost nothing. "Wait!" He cried suddenly after a moment. "That's not the point! The point is that your brat made my angel cry and now he's bothering both Kozakura-chan _and _Umeko-chan!"

"So?" Sasuke asked. He'd calmed from the brief anger and now had one hand in his pocket, leveling Naruto with a cold, flat stare. "They're older than him. One of them is ANBU. Stop babying your kids, idiot. It's obvious why they're so spoiled." Here, he smirked.

"Spoiled!? _Teme!_" Naruto shook a fist at him, but decided, with one last petulant glare, that this wasn't worth his time after all. With an angry grumble, he chugged the last of his drink, thanked Sasuke's wife, and stomped back out.

—

Pursuing Umeko was teaching Kosuke one thing: He'd been so wrong about her. It was true that she had been the weird, quiet girl at the academy. She was as stoic and uncommunicative as he remembered. Only he'd always assumed she was a shy, weak thing. He hadn't realized she was like some kind of... sexy robot babe.

Her every motion was calculated and thought out. She didn't mince words nor actions.

Winning over a girl like this... it was something out of _dreams_.

It was with that in mind that he carefully approached her one afternoon. Intentionally, he'd waited several days since the last time he'd tracked her down and gotten his jaw nearly fractured by a punch.

"Umeko, before you hit me just listen." He said it fast, hands up placatingly before him. For once, she didn't strike forward. His smirk immediately slid back onto his face. "I just want you to understand how I feel."

He wished she weren't wearing her ANBU mask, but he'd come to accept that he would have to _work_ to get that thing off. He liked the idea of a girl he'd have to work for. Regardless of the mask, their situation was ideal. She had just completed a mission and was sitting in a tree, much like Kozakura had been when he'd first approached her.

But he wouldn't dare say "_come down here_" to Umeko.

With a deep, excited breath, he began, his voice filled with passion. "Umeko, I'd give up all my favorite things for you. I'd give up looking at stars for you. I'd give up an eye for you. I'd give up being a shinobi for you. I'd give it all up if you would be my girl." He held a hand out, much like he had to Kozakura. His eyes were ablaze with earnesty. "So, will you?"

Umeko's darting movement was so fast that he barely caught it. But it didn't matter because she had leapt away, leaving no trace of her presence behind.

"Damn," he muttered aloud, wearing a half smile. That had gone well. She hadn't even hit him that time. He was certain he was making progress with her.

And then, later that night, she had appeared in his open window, crouched in the frame. The moonlight glinted off her mask as she slowly took it off, her blue eyes sparkling at him.

"Yes," she told him. He smiled dreamily. Then he shot up in bed, eyes wide.

"Seriously?" He asked her.

"Yes."

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><p>Ahahaha well there's (at least) one more part to this story. I think you guys will enjoy Umeko's point of view.<p>

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)** * You Are Here**  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	29. Family Map, Part 1

Welp, another late chapter and a very short one at that. I think I'm shifting between writer's block and burnout. ;-; Thanks so much once again for your reviews! I really want to finish that Umeko/Kosuke plot and have a pretty clear idea for it at this point, but I just couldn't seem to make myself sit down and WRITE tonight, even when I had the energy to do other things. Ah well.

I was asked by **Deus Namikaze** in one of the most awesome reviews I've ever gotten (wah ;-;) to write something that lists the order of the Uzumaki children, so here's the beginning of that. I would have gone further with this, but Umeko's and/or Kozakura's entry may be affected by A Not-So-Tiny Crush. (Also, I consider it motivation to force myself into finishing THAT plot so I can go ahead and post the rest of this, hahaha self-manipulation). I don't expect that plot to affect this Uzumaki map all that much, but acting like I have control over these characters is a joke, really...

They control me. o_o

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><p>Their first was Shinachiku. In a way, he'd been their savior. He'd been a little bit of a momma's boy at first (although, if you asked Naruto, he'd cross his arms and huff something about him being a homewrecker). However, Shinachiku steadily became Konoha's boy as he grew. Despite a penchant for pranks, his amicable personality, patient compassion, and generosity won the hearts of everyone. His own siblings were no exception. It was difficult to dislike a big brother who was always so happy and willing to offer his attention, even if he could be a goofball sometimes.<p>

His parents couldn't have been more proud.

Naruto boasted about all of his children constantly, but his comments about Shinachiku's good nature inspired listeners to tell him one thing: "He's just like you, you know." Naruto would laugh, rub the back of his head, and tell them no way, Shinachiku was far better than he'd ever been.

Kakashi had asserted the same point in the past, but once Shinachiku began to grow, he began to observe another side of the boy. He told Shinachiku once, just once, that he was very much like his grandfather.

A week later, the fifteen-year-old Shinachiku had plunked a scroll down in front of his sister Emiko.

"Where did you get this?" She had breathed, eyes wide and excited. Shinachiku had grinned.

"I just asked Shikamaru-sensei to ask Dad and the council. Can you help me learn it?" He asked. She nodded, still gazing at the scroll with reverence.

The sun was peeking out over the horizon when the two had finally fallen asleep in a heap together, the scroll laid out before them. The tiny, overwritten script of the Niidaime Hokage was complex for sure.

Even so, the two were sure that they would both master Hiraishin.

—

Emiko was second. She was quiet in the sense that she did not speak as much nor as loudly as Shinachiku. Sakura insisted that she'd been very much the same as a young child. Sakura also insisted she had _not _cried quite as much as a child.

"Don't let her fool you," Mebuki murmured to Naruto mischievously one evening while the young family visited his in-laws' home. She gave a cursory glance in the direction of where a wailing, red-haired three-year-old girl was sitting on her mother's lap. "She used to start bawling just like that if I looked at her the wrong way." She snickered, then took another long sip of her wine. Naruto eyed the glass suspiciously.

Emiko's sensitivity ended up being far more extreme than Sakura's, however. She was easily offended and tended to burst emphatically into tears when upset. She had an uncanny ability to manipulate her father with this trait, forcing him into panicked attempts to appease her—although she _never_ did it intentionally.

At least, that's what she adamantly believed.

But what really set Emiko apart was her intellectual prowess. She was enlisted into the strategical side of affairs, but while she excelled and managed to overcome her _overt_ emotions, her anxiety made it a challenge unworth the payoff. Even in this way, application had never been a strong point for her.

But conceptualization—_the idea of something_—was her best friend.

She was nineteen when Iruka suggested that she take to the classroom rather than the field. She was twenty-six when she stood before council members of several foreign lands, petitioning them to use the new and effective teaching methodologies she'd developed.

—

Their third child—and first happy accident—was Minako. Up until that point, Naruto and Sakura had been sure of their children's genders early on due to several reasons. The main one was Tsunade's penchant for poor gambling prowess. She had bet a lot that their firstborn would be female. She'd bet even more that their secondborn would be another boy.

She'd given Shizune a whole new streak of gray hair with the amount she put down in her claim that their third would be a girl. Naturally, Naruto and Sakura prepared for a boy.

In the shock that had followed Minako's birth, the two had looked at one another and realized with dismay that their daughter didn't have a name. It had been Sakura, in her exhaustion after thirteen hours of labor, to propose the name Minako. She had regretted it as soon as it was out of her mouth—Naruto had so loved her earlier idea to name their second boy Minato.

But he had loved Minako so much that she couldn't convince him of anything else once it had crossed her lips. And so Minako she was.

In her preteen years, she had been the fastest for her age by far, although she was certainly described more often as hyper by others. Perhaps "_all over the place_" was the most common, actually.

She was a proud young lady with a love of attention and validation, so having a label like "fastest" had created a great deal of joy in her life. It was for this reason that Shinachiku felt incredibly guilty at the idea of learning Hiraishin without offering her the chance as well.

"Absolutely not. She is a reckless idiot." Emiko had said, jerking the scroll away from him and beginning to roll it back up. "I am _not _going to teach her this. She will literally be the reason I get my first ulcer."

"Woah, I never said you had to teach her. I just want you to help me learn it. You won't have to deal with her; just let me handle that." He had told her. Emiko had stared at him for a good, long time before finally agreeing—against her better judgment.

Minako with Hiraishin would be a nightmare and a half.

And so she was.

But at least, Shinachiku thought with a measure of pride and affection, she was still the fastest of the Uzumaki children.


	30. A Not-So-Tiny Crush, Part 3

Wow this one I could have finished hours ago if I hadn't sat around in a NaruSaku chat room ahaha. But I think it helped me kind of de-stress a little because after that, the chapter flowed nicely. I wanted this to be longer (to finish it completely in this installation), but I have way too much to do tomorrow and shouldn't even be up this late. Happy Halloween everyone, by the way!

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><p>Umeko's first order of business had been to attain her sister's approval. It had not been hard. Kozakura, unlike many others, was more than capable of being truly sensible.<p>

Her second had been to promptly inform that fool of her compliance.

Her third was to inform her father.

"What?" He asked after she'd told him. She remained silent. It wasn't that she didn't understand when people wanted their irrational, meaningless questions answered. It was more that she didn't want to bother herself with answering them. So she remained silent. Her father's countenance, as always, was a reflection of his impulsiveness. He stared. He frowned. He looked utterly bemused. "You can't do that." He said it as though he were trying to convince himself of it. "Wait, why?" He shook his head.

"I am not required to share details of personal affairs with you, Hokage-sama." She said, voice unwaveringly serious.

"_Dad!_ Call me Dad!" His hands raised in frustration. She didn't respond, which was perfectly habitual, but he still waited with moderate patience for a response, which was also perfectly habitual.

Umeko rather liked her father. He was a kind man.

Though he was somewhat unintelligent. "You know, I could just order you not to!" He suddenly announced. His expression was somewhat excited, as though he'd discovered something great.

"You can't," she responded calmly.

He made a noise of vague frustration and then banged his fist on the wall. "Shikamaru!" He called. The action was immediately followed by the sound of the door behind Umeko slamming open and angry steps entering. Shikamaru stopped next to her; she didn't turn her head, but in her periphery she could see his head was lowered in a characteristic show of anger. Before he could speak, however, Naruto continued. "Am I allowed to forbid her from dating an Uchiha?" He asked. Shikamaru's hand slowly found its way to his forehead.

"_That's_ what you called me for?" He asked, voice slow and deliberate.

"Just—can I or not?" He demanded, pointing a finger argumentatively.

"As her father, I suppose. But I'm assuming that's not what you're asking. As Hokage, no."

"Augh!" He ran his hands through his hair neurotically. Then slowly he dropped his them to the desk and leaned forward, gazing at her earnestly. "Do you at least have a good reason? And you'll take care of yourself?" There was concern in his eyes. Yes, she quite liked him.

"Yes." She said. He gave a short nod and a sigh through his nose.

Umeko sensed that she could dismiss herself at that point. She disappeared through the door just as Shikamaru rounded back on Naruto for his lack of professionalism.

—

Umeko stepped in front of the mirror and gazed at herself in silence. It was time to begin this new arrangement. She was meeting Kosuke for a date soon, and she had never explored this kind of bond before. The bonds she already had were often challenging enough. It wasn't as though she held regrets, but she did acknowledge that motivation was necessary for any challenging endeavor.

So she stared at herself in the mirror. She wondered if the right or the left would better suit her. It was important that it matched her fighting style as well as aesthetics or homages to the people she loved.

There was a quick rapping at her door. "He's on his way, in case you were interested." Emiko's muffled voice stated. Umeko offered no reaction to her sister for several moments. Then she decisively clipped her bangs to the left and stepped out of the room. Emiko was frowning at her, arms crossed.

"I still don't get it." She said, raising an eyebrow. Emiko stood approximately half a head taller than the twins; she was the third tallest of the Uzumaki children and only barely shorter than Shinachiku. In this way, she quite literally looked down at her sister disapprovingly. "After what he did to Kozakura, you're really going through with this nonsense?" Umeko felt a small spark of anger roil within her momentarily. Then Emiko sighed. "Just take care of yourself, okay?" She added before abruptly turning on her heel and walking away.

Umeko's anger was short lived; she understood the significance of being loved by her family, even if the subtleties of it sometimes escaped her. Kozakura had expressed much the same concern as well, even if it was illogical. Umeko had no reason to beware when the situation was entirely under her control to begin with.

She intercepted Kosuke before he got close to their home. The two had their simple date together. It was much what Umeko had expected after observing Kozakura's interactions with him previously. She knew that certain behaviors were an inevitable part of the procedure, so when he held her hand she simply allowed it to happen.

It was after days had turned into weeks that he suddenly crushed his lips against hers, making her eyes grow wide for just a fraction of a second before she punched him and withdrew, abruptly ending their date. The next time he did it, however, she remained passive. She understood now. This was just how dating worked.

It became a pattern.

Kosuke would initiate some kind of intimacy; Umeko would react violently and then eventually allow it. After several months, she would sit unmoving whenever he pressed his lips to hers. She would provide no reaction to the way he brushed his thumb along hers. His hand sliding onto her knee was disregarded as well. She was understanding the dating procedure, even if it was not particularly meaningful to her.

It wasn't until he kissed her one evening while the two sat below the stars that the pattern broke. She remained impassive, allowing the feel of his hand at her waist and the brush of his lips against hers. His tongue slid into her mouth and, when she quickly began to lean away, his free hand seized the back of her head and and held her in place roughly.

_That_ was not part of the dating procedure. She gave him a brutal chop to his throat, reducing him to a coughing heap on the ground, his eyes watering.

"Ah... haha," he wheezed, sitting up and wiping a tear away. He raised an eyebrow playfully. "Not running this time?" He scooted closer to her again, undeterred.

"Don't do that." She said. She did not move, but she gazed at him coldly, her arms crossed.

He paused.

His smirk dropped into something far more serious. Something more gentle.

"Okay," he said softly. He seated himself beside her in silence, then clasped her hand in his as he had so many times already.

But somehow, this time it felt a little different.

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><p>So I haven't offered much in the way of commentary on these chapters. I believe I should finish this plotline in the next update (if my timewriter's block/motivation permits), and then I will probably say a bit more about it. Certainly these chapters have an interesting and different feel to them compared to many of the others. I think you guys may be surprised by the ending, however.

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)** * You Are Here**  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	31. A Not-So-Tiny Crush, Part 4

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! I am a huge fan of this holiday. Huuuuuge.

This chapter would probably have been a lot LESS late if I didn't spill water on my laptop earlier. ;-; It had this artistic looking splotch of dead pixels GROWING BEFORE MY EYES in the bottom right hand corner of the screen (hours after the water got on it) so I freaked out and grabbed the backup laptop instead. Let's hope it doesn't get worse before it properly dries. Ahaha! *sobs*

By the way, this marks the end of my 31 Day NaruSaku challenge. I will no longer be posting daily unless I really feel like it. Please continue to send me ideas and prompts because those might just make me feel like it! n_n This was a huge challenge for me, and this past week I've posted several late chapters. Even so, I'm very proud that I managed it. I never would have gotten anywhere without your kind reviews, however, so **THANK YOU SO MUCH! :D**

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><p>Kosuke wasn't exactly the most experienced in dating, but it was obvious to him that he was a natural. Not that that surprised him at all. What surprised him was that Umeko had been as much of a sucker for sweet-talking as her sister had been. He had to admit, that had been an amusing—and pleasant—surprise.<p>

Now that she was his girlfriend, though, he found himself going through painful cycles of boredom. She was a prize, to be sure. It was more than a little gratifying to parade around Konoha and see the stares of people who were clearly impressed, confused, or otherwise interested. Not many men were brave enough to try.

But Kosuke had never feared the Hokage—it was in his blood not to, he reasoned—and it was a pleasure to publicly flaunt that fact. Even if, occasionally, he wondered if that were the only reason he was currently dating Umeko.

Because at times, she wasn't the girl he wanted at all.

It had all started when he'd slipped his fingers through hers without waiting for any cue on their first date. He'd expected her to at _least _show some form of annoyance, if not outright anger. But she had just... let him. Thankfully, his creeping worry that he'd once again made a mistake was alleviated when she left him with a black eye for kissing her. Rad. Kosuke was certain that the best kind of girl was the kind a man had to fight for. In a quite literal way. Other girls were boring. But his creeping worry returned again almost immediately. For their second kiss, she'd been as docile and passive as when he'd held her hand. A piece of him swelled with pride that he had succeeded in wooing her with his great kisses, however, and the pride won out the boredom for sure. He'd keep her. At least for now. At least until he found out what her limit truly was. A hand here, a kiss there. She'd excite him by fighting back, but then she'd promptly give up.

Was she teasing him? He _wanted_ to think so, but that didn't explain the sheer amount of time she devoted to being at his side, content with seemingly nothing more. She never _initiated_ anything that resembled hostility—that was always his job, by perhaps sliding a hand just a tad higher up her thigh. She had fractured one of his ribs for that.

As the weeks wore on, the boomeranging relationship had created a strange ache in the pit of his stomach. It was irritating. She was irritating.

Kosuke never got irritated.

But it was so incredibly frustrating that he couldn't seem to figure out why—why was she offering him so much of her time and attention and yet showing absolutely no indication that she was gaining anything from it. It honestly seemed as though she remained at his side for no other reason than to satisfy him. She never made requests. She never created boundaries after those initial, violent shoot-downs. She never questioned him or challenged him. She didn't even seem to get jealous or hurt when he intentionally let his gaze slide to other girls while in her presence. Kosuke could admit he was an arrogant guy, but he wasn't _that _arrogant. He knew relationships involved some selfish wants. He knew that Umeko didn't just want to be at his side for the sake of being at his side. He knew that she had to want _something _from him.

He just had no idea what that something was. And that irritated him.

He hated the idea that the supposed girl of his dreams might be selfless to a fault. He didn't want someone who let him do whatever he wanted. He wanted someone who would create boundaries. Because Kosuke was all about pushing boundaries.

And girls who didn't push back were no fun.

But even _that_ didn't fully explain it. Sure, he could feel a little irritated, but why was there a growing ache in his stomach each time she passively accepted the conquests he made of her body? Was that... _guilt_? Sick. He definitely had to stop that. He considered dumping her, but a million justifications came to mind immediately thereafter. He still hadn't discovered her true limits yet. And she kept him entertained. And of course, it was always a plus to have bragging rights.

So he kept her, and he worked hard to keep that weird, guilty feeling in check.

It was several months into their relationship, just after his fifteenth birthday, when he decided to give her a _real _kiss—it wasn't exactly high on his list; his hands had been finding far more interesting things to test out. As expected, she began to retract, but he decided to test it further. To try shutting up that stupid feeling by fighting it with fire. He grabbed a fist of her hair and shoved her against himself, forcing in a way that he understood was terribly _wrong_, even if he didn't want to admit to that understanding.

She nearly crushed his throat getting him off her, and he laughed. At least she always knew how to keep him entertained. That was his Umeko. But this time, she didn't run. She remained, sitting exactly where he'd left her. Only she didn't look like herself at all.

"Don't do that." She said. She _wanted_. And although her voice was as steady and cold as always, her arms curled around herself. The gesture was not implying anger, but something he'd never seen from her before. Vulnerability.

He almost wanted to cry.

What the hell was he doing?

"Okay," he said with a swallow. And he realized that, at that moment, he wanted nothing more than to be at her side. Suddenly, he understood the concept of wanting to be by someone's side just for the sake of being by their side.

Suddenly, he appreciated that she let him stay by her like this.

And he understood one more thing, as he gently slipped his hand into hers and felt her warm pulse almost perfectly sync with his.

He loved her.

—

It was nearly two months later that he decided it was high time to introduce her to his family. Kosuke had been determined to make up his poor behavior to Umeko thus far by showing her the utmost respect. And he didn't respect anyone more than his family.

When he'd mentioned that he was dating Umeko, his mother had been surprised and somewhat suspicious, and his father had seemed oddly amused. Now that he proposed having her over for dinner, the reactions were much the same—only amplified.

"That serious?" His mother had asked.

"Hm." His father had smirked and then glanced off to the side as if imagining something incredibly amusing.

But neither had protested. Despite the rigorous training regimen he'd been fettered to as a genin, he found that the Uchiha Clan allotted him a nice amount of freedom over his life. So it was with pride and perhaps more than a little hesitation that he walked in with Umeko's hand in his and seated her at the table. As per her usual, she showed little in the way of interaction.

"It's nice to meet you, Umeko," Kosuke's mother said, offering a warm smile.

"Likewise," was her monotone, quipped response. She was staring at a photo on the wall behind the woman when she said it.

Kosuke's father opted to say nothing, but the two did share a cursory glance at one another. This was the interaction Kosuke had worried about. He'd also worried about his sister's bluntness, but she'd been assigned a mission with her team and ended up absent, thankfully. Apparently there had been no reason to worry, however, because Sasuke had gone back to eating without a word. That seemed safe.

"So how long have you two been together, now?" Kosuke's mother asked her. He frowned flatly and, with perfect etiquette, began to eat his own meal.

"Ten months, sixteen days." Umeko responded almost immediately, her seated form perfectly rigid. Kosuke wore a defeated smirk as he chewed a bite. Directly into the weirdness. For a moment, there was silence. Then she spoke again, still addressing Umeko with a smile.

"I must say I'm glad you and Kosuke are so happy. You must like him a lot then, hm?" Her smile became almost teasing, then. Umeko showed no reaction to that, her expression remaining impassive.

"He's bearable." She stated. Kosuke tilted a glance at her, eyebrow raised. He couldn't deny that he was amused, but he was also a little nervous about her unanticipated sense of humor here, of all places. It wasn't like she hadn't wung a good sarcastic jab at him in the past—the first few had been so unexpected that he'd completely missed them until much later. His mother chuckled halfheartedly.

All the while, Sasuke ate in silence, never so much as glancing up at the others.

For some time, the dinner continued in a painfully awkward silence. At least, that's how Kosuke felt. He could tell his mother had the same impression. Neither his father nor Umeko seemed particularly bothered, however.

"I hope it's not too forward," his mother started suddenly, breaking the intense silence, "but what made you change your mind about Kosuke?" She smiled again at Umeko.

"Mom, really?" Kosuke said almost immediately. Not exactly first-time-meeting conversational material. But his mother had never been good with such things to begin with.

Umeko, like before, answered in a deliberate, emotionless tone.

"He promised me a sharingan." Sasuke coughed on his food, his shoulders frozen with tension. The silence was back, but this time it was _crushing. _After a moment, Kosuke cleared his throat.

"Hah... yeah... Umeko, not really the best kind of joke to make," Kosuke said, placing his hand on top of hers with a hesitant look on his face.

"You proposed it." She said, turning her head to face him. He'd learned to read her sublte emotions these past months, and it shocked him to find a hint of confusion in her eyes, though he wasn't sure what else was there with it. She continued, seeming to notice his shock. "_I'd give up an eye if you'd be my girl_," she recited his months-old poetry in such a detached voice that it sounded eerie.

"You can leave." Sasuke finally spoke, looking up from his food to stare Umeko down. Without question, she shifted as though to stand, but Kosuke halted her with his hand on her shoulder.

"Wait! Dad, seriously, please don't. Umeko, the heck?" He wasn't even sure what to make of this. Was this part of that Uzumaki-Uchiha rivalry? She'd never shown any indication of caring about such things in the past, so he had been completely blindsided by her sudden attempts to mock the clan. Blindsided and a little angry, if he were honest with himself. But he knew there was some perfectly logical explanation for it—because Umeko was always perfectly logical. "I didn't offer her a sharingan, so let's just talk about something else."

The way her head whipped to face him was perhaps the most shocking moment of his life. Because at that precise second he realized that she was serious.

"If you're not going to give me one, I have no more business with you." She stated coldly, her voice taking on the slightest edge of emotion. Anger. He was completely dumbfounded.

"Get out." Sasuke growled, slowly standing to his full height. She met his glare with her own as she stood. Then, without so much as another look at Kosuke, she left.

—

Umeko darted over rooftops toward Kakashi's home. It was challenging to describe how she felt right now. Anger didn't quite express it. She so rarely felt such a mix of emotions that it seemed it might overwhelm her. It had been a logical decision. She wanted a sharingan—that was the entire purpose of the venture—and he was unwilling to provide. Anger was logical. She should have been angry at him for backing out of their arrangement. It was confusing then, that she was feeling far more than just anger.

She wanted to be near Kakashi right now. He had been a figure of guidance on many levels during her formative years. He had provided consultation in the past many times.

The image of Kozakura hugged in the arms of their mother flashed through her mind. Kozakura had shed tears over the breakup, and despite how illogical it seemed, Umeko had always reserved a place in herself filled with endless, unconditional acceptance of her twin's odd quirks. So she had watched with no judgment as her mother held her sister and stroked her hair, reassured her that better things would come, that there is no need to cry for long when so much good lies ahead.

Umeko slowed to a stop. She'd never had a relationship like that with Kakashi. She'd never had one with her parents, either. She didn't even have one with Kozakura.

In a flash of movement and intensely powerful chakra, her father was suddenly standing before her. He took one look at her face, his own expression grave, and she felt herself lifted into his arms and carried at the same incomprehensible speed back to his office.

"Ah," he looked sheepish as he placed her down. "You were at Sasuke's, and then you left alone, so I thought—" She did not wait for him to finish, stepping forward and pressing her forehead to his shoulder in silence. He wrapped his arms around her and slowly, hesitantly, she lifted her own to place around him.

It was strange.

Umeko understood quite a lot in the arms of her father.

"It'll be okay," he told her softly.

"I know." She responded, her voice as impassive as ever. "Thank you." She paused. "Dad."

—

Kosuke had stared at the wall for the better part of a week. He really wished he was more angry. He wished that he was angry enough to tear the world to pieces. Instead, he was just about angry enough to cry.

But he refused to do that.

Umeko had strung him along completely. She had never wanted him in the first place. Looking back, he really should have noticed it. Even if she hadn't outright discussed it with him, he was retrospectively analyzing some of their conversations now, and...

When she'd asked him "_Left or right?_" he had swept her bangs to the right. "_Well?_" She had asked him. "_Right, obviously,_" he'd said with the raise of an eyebrow, since it _was _obvious. Except it hadn't been. She'd been talking about _stealing his fucking eyeball_, not her hairstyle.

What the _fuck?_

This took "a girl he had to fight for" to a whole new level. This was ridiculous. There was no way that relationship ever would have worked out.

Definitely no way.

Ever.

It was over.

Except...

On some strange, embarrassing plane of his mind, he had begun to think about what that relationship _could _have looked like. Everything had been going so well, if he ignored—or maybe just glossed over—the part about her wanting his eye more than him. She'd even initiated the hands holding several times in that last month. When it came to Umeko, that was significant.

And really, who needed _two _sharingan anyway?

* * *

><p>AHAHA I'm so sorry for this storyline. Umeko is a character I have far too much love for. The idea for this started as a quirky little trope reversal prompt. You always see the stereotype in fiction that men are out to get women for their bodies, and I thought it might be fun to build a situation that felt like it <em>would <em>be that... but then reverse it. And make it far more literal. Ah hah! I'm awful. I know. This last chapter was initially supposed to be way more goofy and comical, but then there was just a little too much feeling going into it, and I liked the way it came out. I didn't get a chance to explain the conversation between Umeko and Kozakura in this chapter. I think that's a dang shame because it would have been a good chance to show that, when left to their own devices, those two are _equally_ weird together. I promise. I am actually thinking about writing a sequel to this at some point (probably not right away), so maybe I can include more of that interaction then. xD

So I've started up a little NaruSaku irc chat (I'm not in it right now due to the laptop issue). If you would like to hang out there, just go to the Freenode Webchat (google for the link there) and enter the channel ##narusaku. I advertised it on tumblr last night and it had a really fun conversation with something like 7 NaruSaku fans! If you're willing to log in every so often and see if people are online, I guarantee you'll find at least me around at times. Also, I plan to advertise it again for the VERY LAST chapter release so we can chat about that before/after it comes out. ;-; im sad guys. It's ending!

Edit: As some of you can imagine (since this was posted October 31st and all), the chat is no longer around. Actually, at this very moment it technically still exists, but only to tell you that it has died and we now have another chat instead. xD In any case, if you are interested in joining our new and improved NaruSaku chat, please message me here or on my tumblr account (planknojutsu). We have a wonderful little community which I enjoy a lot. I will say that making these phenomenal friends has been worth the terrible ending. :) I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat! (But I think the Naruto fandom would kick my ass if they found out that I'd had the power to do things over and chosen my friends over a proper ending. SORRY THOUGH GUYS. FRIENDSHIP! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !)

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)** * You Are Here**  
>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)<p> 


	32. A Terrible Dream

Sorry for the LOOOOONG delay in posting! At first I was just recovering from all that writer's burnout, but then the ending happened... So apologies in advance. This chapter is a direct response to that ending. You guys might be sick of seeing this kind of story already, but I felt inspiration to write my own anyway, so I did! Enjoy, and please keep sending me prompts, ideas, etc etc. I have a TON right now, but I'm having a very hard time motivating myself to write after the ending, so I am hoping something will strike my inspiration side (like this did). Thanks for all the reception to my last chapter. I will definitely be updating the Umeko/Kosuke story at least one more time for a somewhat conclusion if not a full conclusion, so look forward to that. Let me know which kids you like best so far or who you'd like to see more of (and at what ages). I'm going to try to get in more of the three youngest kids sometime soon as well. :) Thanks for reading!

* * *

><p>Naruto woke up in a cold sweat, his fists clenched into the blanket like vices. He laid still, holding his breath in silence for just long enough to hear the familiar sound of his wife's quiet, rhythmic breathing.<p>

He only took a shuddering breath when his eyes took in the smooth contours of her pale shoulders, glowing softly in moonlight. He sighed and shook a hand through his hair.

None of that nonsense was real. This was real. Sakura was real, lying next to him, soaked through with Uzumaki love from all angles. Twelve different angles, to be exact. She somehow sensed his scrutiny—maybe Emiko _had _gotten that sensory stuff from her side—because she shifted in her sleep and then yawned herself awake.

"Naruto," she murmured, voice still heavy with sleep. She reached out and gripped his cool, clammy hand in her own, and her eyes fluttered into awareness. "What's wrong?" She turned to face him, releasing his hand and bringing her fingertips to his cheek instead.

"Nothing," he whispered back, his mouth curling into a warm, gentle smile. "Sakura-chan, nothing is ever wrong when I'm with you." She tried to give him a skeptical smile, but he could see the flattery right through it.

"Really?" She asked with some irony, still sounding quite sleepy. She gave a little snort even so. Then, with a little more gentleness again: "Are you okay?" He took a deep breath, his happy smile still in place but his eyebrows upturning a little.

"Yeah. I just had a weird dream." He said, kissing her hand. "I dreamed you all got replaced and I was this angry jerk hokage." Now he pouted comically, shaking his head. When he first mentioned it being a dream, she had looked even more skeptical, but as he'd explained, her expression had shifted into something so much more sympathetic.

"We'll always be here for you, Naruto. Always." She scooted closer to him, and he wrapped his arms around her smaller form. "And if you think you can get away, good luck trying. We have enough combined strength to drag you home from the moon if we have to." Her voice petered into a tired slur, humming against his neck as she spoke.

"Good." He breathed into her hair. He smiled and shifted so that he could kiss her on the forehead. "I love you, Sakura-chan. I always have, and I always will." She did not respond to this, her breathing evening out into the deep, slow breaths of slumber.

Naruto followed soon after.

—

When he awakened it felt like hours had passed, but he was certain the moonlight filtering in from the window had not moved from where it illuminated his wife's sleeping form.

Hinata.

Naruto sighed and shifted uncomfortably, placing his arm over his eyes. Why did he keep having that dream?

It was _torture_.

He didn't know why his subconscious had begun to plague him with these dreams—weekly, at least. Dreams where eleven of the most beautiful, wonderful, beloved children all called him Dad. Dreams where Sakura, not Hinata, gazed into his eyes and told him she loved him, or that everything would be okay, or that—he sighed again, aggressively.

"Naruto?" Hinata asked softly, her voice so sweet and gentle. He hesitated before dropping his hand away from his eyes and looking to her. Would she see the _guilt_ he was feeling? He wanted to apologize immediately, but he'd already done that so many times that it had to be meaningless now. He'd even promised to stop having these dreams.

He couldn't keep his promise.

"That dream again?" She asked, reaching out gently to run her fingertips along his muscular arm.

"Yeah," he breathed out, unmoving. His gaze slid to the ceiling.

"That must be terrible..." she whispered, sliding her form closer to him so that she could latch onto his arm and lie her head against his shoulder. "But don't worry, you'll always wake up to us." She kissed his shoulder, her lips cool against his skin.

He felt sick with guilt.

And then she shifted so that she could be above him, her dark hair a curtain that framed their private view of one another and tickled his ears. She leaned down, dipping so close that he could feel her small breaths against his lips.

And then they ki—

—

Naruto shot awake, flailing.

"Nn—jus' wa—no—I'm marri—" He shouted, his panicked voice slurred from the deep sleep he'd just roused out of.

Sakura had jolted awake next to him immediately and stared. He finally calmed down after a few moments—at least enough to sit still, though his breathing remained quick. After a confused pause, he suddenly looked around like a startled bird, then rested his eyes on her.

"Sakura-chan!" He cried, diving to wrap his arms around her waist and press his face into the blanket on her lap.

She sighed a hissing breath out slowly, almost machine-like. "This again, Naruto?"

"It was worse this time! It was a nightmare in a dream _in a nightmare_." He finished the last part looking up at her with wide, animal-like eyes. She didn't respond at all for a moment, and he wondered if she were too tired to have heard what he said. Then she finally spoke.

"Naruto, it's just a dream." Despite the edge to her voice that implied how little she cared about his super intense extreme trauma, she stroked his hair affectionately anyway.

"Sakura-chan, you don't understand," he said, his voice a whine. "I mean, what if I wake up, and then I wake up, _and then I __**don't **__wake up?_"

She finally moved then, but only to tilt her head down to him in a slow, even motion. With her hair askew in several directions and her mouth a tired frown, she leveled him with the most _done _stare he'd ever seen. "Naruto." She pronounced his name like it might have been a disease.

"Sakura-chaaaan," he rubbed his face into her lap.

"Naruto, you are a _grown man_. You have ten children. You are crying about a nightmare." She said flatly. All the while, she'd still replaced her hand on his head gently whenever he lay still.

"I know'ttebayo! But, but! There's _only two_ kids, and this time she almost kissed me, and right before I woke up all I could think was about how you were gonna _kill me_, and—" he halted suddenly, his face lifting and scrunching into pain as she grabbed one of his ears.

"Do you really think I want to hear about that?" She asked. She let go and he rubbed his ear pitifully before sitting up.

"Sakura-chan, you don't get how awful it is!" He plead, gazing into her eyes imploringly. She relented finally, her gaze softening.

"You're _really_ that bothered by a dream?" She cupped his cheek, leaning forward to peck his lips with a small but lingering kiss.

"Yeah! I mean no! It's a nightmare in a dream in a nightmare, Sakura-chan, not _just_ a dream. And like, I mean, what if _this_ is a dream?" He gestured vaguely at the room. She laughed here, her voice a beautiful chime in the quiet night.

"Do you really think you wouldn't wake up when _I_ hit you?" She asked, scratching her fingernails through his hair quite affectionately. "That's nonsense." He leaned into her hand, his expression reflecting an incredible amount of bliss.

"But you can see why I'd be scared, right?" he asked, opening his eyes again and wearing a wide, lovesick smile. She couldn't help but smile in return.

"Well _that _I'd expect." She leaned forward and kissed him again, letting it carry on, long and sensual. Their arms wrapped around one another, and Naruto was reveling in everything she was—everything he had ever wanted. He really _was _so lucky to have her.

They had lied down in one another's arms, pressed against each other so closely that they almost felt as one person rather than two, when a tiny whimper petered in in from behind the door.

"By the way," Naruto whispered into her ear as he shifted to get out of bed, "in the dream part, we had eleven, you know." Sakura scoffed.

"Naruto," she told him as he stood and walked to the door. "Ten is _enough_." He was nodding rhythmically, the way he always did when he was hearing... but not. She couldn't blame him. Once upon a time, four had been enough too.

He opened the door and scooped two-year-old Misaki into his arms, her tiny green eyes and mop of messy magenta hair glowing adorably in the moonlight. And, when he gazed at that little girl with so much love in his eyes and such a truly happy grin on his face, she couldn't stop an errant thought from invading her mind:

Maybe eleven wasn't a terrible idea after all.

* * *

><p>lmao, did I catch you with that feint in there? ohoho, that's my wishful thinking about how 700 will translate to The Last. Yeah right though... money talks louder than art. :c<p>

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<br>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)  
>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)  
>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)<br>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)  
>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)<br>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)  
>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)<br>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)  
>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 & 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	33. Confession, Part 1

Ah, it's good to be back! Sorry for all the delays. I blame tumblr! I am completely swept up in it right now. :[ Hopefully I'll have the chance to write more in December since I'm giving up Tumblr (and p much all online entertainment) for Advent. That means I will _only _be posting on Sundays, if at all. I've actually been working on several chapters, including a handful of different ones today. For some reason, though, I couldn't seem to get myself focused on any of the others. Thus, this was born. I want to thank my friend **Marie** for demanding I write this (although I haven't even gotten to the part she was demanding I write xD). Actually, that was earlier today. So thanks, Marie!

* * *

><p>Naruto's boots crunched through the snow, deafeningly loud in the otherwise silent atmosphere. He stopped and shuffled back and forth to warm himself as he felt Sakura's chakra signature slowly approach. It was after another few minutes of waiting that the sound of her own crunching footsteps rose into earshot.<p>

"Sakura-chan!" He called out with a cheerful wave as she crested the once grassy hill, her red and pink and cream figure bright against the pure white that was Konoha's outskirts. The snow reached to her ankles in places, and she removed one of her gloved hands from her coat pocket to wave back before immediately stuffing it back.

"I can't believe how cold it got," she said as the two began their trek through the sparsely wooded fields of the training grounds.

"It's supposed to snow more this week!" He said, grinning widely. He'd always loved winter, the way it brought people together and especially the way _fun_ became the middle name of even the most grumpy people when armed with snowballs.

"I don't mind the snow, but I feel like my nose is going to fall off," she lamented, rubbing it gingerly. "I'm just glad I haven't gotten my mother's cold yet. I've been taking care of her, making sure she's getting her fluids, but somehow I've managed to avoid getting it."

"That's cuz you're smart," Naruto stated confidently, giving a nod.

"What?" Sakura raised an eyebrow at him as she tucked her hand back into her pocket yet again.

"You know, ah, uhm, that old saying," he frowned in thought, eyes turning to the sky as he tried to recall the words. She frowned.

"You mean _fools can't catch colds_?" He nodded his head excitedly for just one second—before his face read shock and he quickly shook it. Sakura evened him with a glare for a few seconds before dropping the subject and sighing, her breath blossoming like a ghostly flower in the air before her. "We should get drinks. It's too cold today." He watched as her eyes slid to him in a sideways glance, her lips parted just enough to let the whites of her teeth peek at him. Her cheeks and nose were pink in the cold air. "Naruto." He blinked.

"Oh, uh, yeah." He nodded again. Then, with almost unseeable speed, he reached out and spun her by the shoulder so that the two were suddenly facing the other direction. With a smirking back-glance at her surprised expression, he strode forward and snickered.

"You're so weird," she muttered as she caught up with him. He knew he was imagining it, but those pretty red cheeks seemed like they might have been just a tad redder.

—

Sakura felt much better once she had a warm drink in her hands. The tea was so piping hot that it was undrinkable, but she knew it would cool off far too fast in this weather. She offered the third glance to Naruto since they'd gotten their drinks—he'd chugged his down like his life depended on it before even venturing back out into the snow. Despite seeming in high spirits at times, he'd been oddly quiet the past few weeks.

"Do you think Sasuke will get here today?" She asked. Over the past few months, that topic had occupied a good portion of their conversations—how they'd officially welcome him back, what they'd do together once the trio was back in business, how they could work with the people of Konoha to transition him in a little better... it seemed like a safe topic. Instead, the corners of his mouth dipped into a genuine frown briefly before he covered it with a half-hearted grin.

"Not today, but I'll bet it'll be this week. I just have that feeling, you know?" His hands clasped behind his head, and the grin slowly, thankfully, became a bit more genuine. Even so...

"Is something bothering you?" She asked. He blinked with surprise, his hands unclasping and hovering in the air hesitantly.

"Huh?" He asked.

"You just seem, I dunno. You seem kind of down lately." Saying it aloud somehow made it more real, and she felt a stone settling in her stomach with worry. "Is something wrong?"

"Ah..." His mouth became a small, lopsided slash across his face, and he scratched the back of his head, stuffing his other gloved hand into his pocket. "Just kinda nervous."

"Nervous? About what?" She tried to keep the skepticism out of her voice because he seemed quite serious, but the idea of Naruto being nervous about something seemed almost comical in how... well, just how _weird_ it was. It wasn't like he never worried, it was just that she couldn't imagine Naruto of all people worrying about something passively for weeks. That was a non sequitur. "You usually beat up the things that make you nervous." She said to fill the silence he was leaving, smiling and elbowing him a little.

"Yeah," he said, not reciprocating her playfulness in the least. She frowned. He really _was _bothered by something. "Just," he continued before she could say anything else, "Sasuke coming back and all. I know he will soon. It'll just change things." Sakura was shocked. Stunned was more like it. She only realized she'd stopped walking when he did, already a step ahead of her. He turned around and blinked down at her.

"But you've wanted him back for so long," she said, tilting her head. "I mean—"

"No! I definitely want Sasuke to come home'ttebayo!" He put his hands up as if to stop her crazy thoughts from getting out of hand. "I just mean you know, I dunno. You ever worry things will change and never go back?" She wasn't any less shocked. This was a side of Naruto she'd _never _seen before.

"All the time," she admitted, releasing a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "I just didn't think you did. No offense." She bit her lip. Was she _still_ being that ignorant child to him, all these years later?

"I don't. I mean, I didn't. Gah, Sakura-chan, how come things have to be so complicated all the time?" He snorted his breath out of his nose and jammed both hands into his pockets childishly before turning back toward the direction they'd been walking in. He remained where he stood, though. "You want Sasuke back for good, don't you?"

"More than anything," she agreed with a firm nod, even if he couldn't see it. She didn't miss the way his shoulders tensed slightly. "He's our comrade and our friend. And we're his _family_. Nothing is going to change that, Naruto. If everything that's happened didn't change that, then nothing will." She stepped forward to stand next to him again, lifting one of her hands to press against his back.

"Yeah," he said. She stepped forward to continue their walk, pulling him forward by the arm. Sakura's emotions had been oddly capricious lately, and this was no exception. Her hand clasping him at the elbow sent an odd sensation through her, warming her to the point that the tea seemed useless. She jammed her hand back into her pocket abruptly and carefully inspected the trees to her left, hoping he wouldn't see how stupidly red she'd just gotten. How many times was this going to happen today?

How many times was it going to happen, in general? In retrospect, the reactions had started quite some time ago, but she'd put them firmly on hold for the war. Now, though, it seemed that she didn't have enough to keep her fluttering heart occupied. The only problem was that she was already pretty sure that she knew how he felt about her.

She'd found out in snow much like this, over a year ago now.

She hadn't expected it, of course. Not after what Sai had told her, and certainly not after knowing Naruto for so long. It wasn't as though she had gone in expecting a specific reaction to her confession in the Land of Iron, but she hadn't expected that kind of abrasion.

It had taken her right back to that night four years before, hearing a quiet "thank you" and feeling the world drop away while Sasuke ran off to destroy everything he'd become.

She had known going into it that she might lose her friendship with Naruto, but she hadn't. For that, she was eternally grateful. She couldn't even _imagine_ her life without Naruto. He had become her pillar in so many ways. That was why she was happy, even if she had lost whatever romantic pretense that ever could have existed with him.

Even if, at times, she saw it as the biggest mistake of her life.

But in her better moments, she reminded herself that _nothing_ stopped Naruto from getting what he wanted—so in truth, Sai had been the one to miscalculate, not her. Naruto may have loved her, but it wasn't _that _kind of love after all. That's all that had happened.

Alleviating the regret still did nothing for the longing in her heart, however.

She loved him.

And even if he never loved her back—not like that, at least—she had made a private vow to support him and protect him, come what may. Her own promise of a lifetime.

She sighed quietly. Now that she'd managed to make herself sad, _both _of them were feeling low. _Smart move, Sakura_, her mind's impish voice chastised.

"Hey, uh, what do you think of Sasuke's team?" Naruto asked, blessedly cutting short her mental pity party. These walks were usually a fun activity for the two. They weren't supposed to be dismal.

"They're a little weird, but I think they're alright. That one guy is obnoxious, though." She frowned, brows furrowing over her eyes. Suigetsu, if she recalled correctly. Something about him reminded her of... well, of Naruto, but in a bad way.

"What about the girl?" He said it while looking away. Sakura blinked at him, hoping to catch a glimpse of his expression, but he was determinedly looking into the woods to his right.

"Karin? From what I've seen, I like her." She said. He paused. For a long, awkward moment, the only sound was their footsteps crunching through the snow. It seemed that even the birds had quieted.

"Do... do you think he does?" His voice was so hesitant, so filled with an odd emotion she couldn't place, that she lost her voice for a moment. He glanced back at her finally, peeking over his shoulder and down at her. She swallowed and gave him a curious look.

"Why?" She asked, and when she realized it might sound accusing, she softened her tone. "Why do you ask? That's an odd question." He shrugged, looking away again. She didn't miss his steps suddenly quickening the slightest bit. Sakura's hand clutched that cup of cooling tea until it shook. She hastened to keep up with him, her mind churning a million cycles per minute.

The times Naruto and the redhead had met were limited, at best. Sakura wasn't sure they'd ever even spoken directly—certainly not when Team 7 had parted ways at the gates of Konoha, bidding farewell to Team Taka for an indefinite period of time. Sakura highly doubted he was interested in her in any romantic way. Even so, the thought made her heart ache again, momentarily. Perhaps he was interested in her Uzumaki heritage? But that'd never been brought up in conversation. Sakura wasn't even sure what exactly that meant to him. Overall, it was such an odd, such a completely unexpected question that she had absolutely no idea what it could mean. _Was Sasuke interested in Karin?_ What would it matter to him if he wasn't interested in Karin?

Unless... he _wasn't_ interested in Karin.

Unless... he was interested in _Sasuke_.

Sakura froze. The pieces clicked. Everything fit.

_Everything fit._

"Oh." She said, her voice quiet, subdued with overwhelming shock. She shrugged her scarf higher as her cheeks reddened. _Oh._

Naruto turned to face her again. This time he'd gotten several steps ahead of her. He wore an expression that matched his hesitant tone from earlier. When he saw her timid expression, his own cheeks bloomed into a vivid pink.

"W-what?" He stammered, shuffling his feet nervously.

"Are..." She paused, swallowing. She was hesitant to ask, but... well, she wanted to be sure. "I mean, it's none of my business, but you're my friend..." She paused again, then tilted her head and gazed up at him with a quiet, supportive smile. "Are you in love with Sasuke?" Sakura watched his entire face turn a new shade of crimson and his expression morph from shock to embarrassment to horror—with some unidentifiable emotions in between. Then he stomped one foot down, fist clenched in front of him.

"Wh—_NO!_" He shouted at her. "That's not—Sakura-chan!" He whipped his head back and forth in the most emphatic _no_ she'd ever seen. Sakura raised her free hand placatingly, eyebrows knitted. Of course he'd be embarrassed, but, well... he was making it more than obvious with this extreme protestation.

"Sorry—I didn't—I mean..." she sighed, then took two steps forward to close the distance between the two of them and clasped his hand in one of hers. His face was still completely red and he looked childishly mortified, but she locked eyes with him anyway. This would be a challenging thing to come to terms with in their society—Sakura understood that. She had to make it abundantly clear that she would never look down on him for this. "It's okay, Naruto." She told him. "I will always support you, no matter who it is." He shook his head again, speechless. His nostrils flared as he frowned deeply, his lip quivering with emotion. Then he tore his hand out of hers and fled, disappearing so quickly that, were it not for the snow blowing off the trees in his wake, she never would have known which direction he'd even taken.

Sakura sighed again, her heart sinking further. Finally, she lifted her tea to her lips.

It was cold.

* * *

><p>LOL poor Naruto. Oh gosh. You'll get his point of view on all this in the second part. Ahaha. Seriously, this guy has the worst luck with confessions (in whatever form they seem to manifest around him). Honestly, I think this is the most likely "other love interest" possibility for Sakura to ever detect on Naruto's part. None of this "maybe Hinata is better for him" crap that Kishimoto seems to be pulling on us with his weird interviews, NAAAAHHHHHHHH. That's TRASH. Naruto's only two beloveds are Sakura and Sasuke, and y'all can fight me over it.<p>

Part two tomorrow, if all goes well! c:

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)<br>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)  
>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)<br>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)  
>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)<br>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)  
>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)<br>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)  
>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)<br>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	34. Confession, Part 2

Well this turned out a lot longer than I expected it to. o_o I actually had an entire section done before I finished the second scene here—then I went back and expanded it and had a chapter nearly twice this length, so I had to split it. I dunno how that happens sometimes. Anyway, here's the continuation but NOT conclusion. I had planned to make this whole arc only two parts, but as soon as I got into this chapter I realized how ludicrous that thought was. Ah, I hope we don't (DO!?) get another It'll Be Okay out of this (that one was gonna be maybe 3 parts, then maybe 5, then it ended up 7 xD). Note: I am NOT reading reviews until Sunday, so please leave me a PM if you need to tell me to fix something or stuff like that. However, I really REALLY appreciate all of your reviews. They keep me going ;_; so please still leave them if you like the story.

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><p>Naruto had no idea what to say to Sakura. Actually, no. He knew exactly what he <em>wanted<em> to say, but it involved three words that he'd been forcing himself _not _to say to her for the past year and a half—perhaps longer. Those three words were the only ones that came to mind as he'd stood in horror before her. How could she—what could have _possibly _made her—he'd been speechless and unable to think of anything except to explain the truth: that he loved her. But he _couldn't_ say that. Not yet.

So he fled.

"GAH!" He slapped a hand to his forehead and then clenched his gloved fingers into his hair with frustration. His mad dash away slowed to something a little more human, and now he came to stop not far from the east gate—they'd been walking all the way by the north gate. It was only now that he realized he'd gone into Kyuubi mode, the snow around him glowing with yellow vibrancy. Apparently Kurama had been waiting for him to stop, because his raucous laughter suddenly filled Naruto's mind. He flickered into existence in his own mindscape for just long enough to shout angrily at the massive beast. "_Shut up!_" His voice echoed through the endless space. He returned to the snow-covered world sullenly.

Naruto sighed and, with little more force than a gentle breeze, made a careful landing on the next tree branch. He lowered into a crouch, massaging his scalp, and released the chakra flow. It made him feel so heavy.

He had never actively believed in karma or superstitious stuff (except ghosts—ghosts were _real_), but he was certain that it was real now. He had brought this upon himself. Somehow, he'd come up with the idea weeks ago that perhaps Sasuke would fall in love with that weird girl, that he'd return only for Sakura to have missed her chance with him. It had grown from a notion, just a tiny musing, into a fullblown and intense _hope_. He couldn't count the hours he'd spent silently wishing to the universe or a shooting star or his dingy old Daruma doll that Sasuke and Karin would come home after their year away, happily married with three kids and two pet cats and—he sighed again, poking at the snow on the tree branch next to him miserably. He had known it was a terrible thing to do, of course. Wishing for Sakura to get her heart broken, wishing something so selfishly for Sasuke, just so he could have better chances with the girl of his dreams. But he'd still done it, ignoring the guilt in order to gleefully imagine Sakura's revelation that "_he never loved me anyway!"_ and throwing herself dramatically into Naruto's awaiting arms, realizing that he'd been there all along for her and also he was the most handsome guy in the world.

And _then_ what did he do? He'd gone and wished for it _so hard _that he'd started to believe it would happen. There was no other explanation for why he'd brought up Karin to Sakura like that. He wanted to soften the blow of something that he'd _entirely invented in his mind_. And then Sakura had thought—

"Unnngh," he groaned aloud, turning his face skyward and slapping his fists against the branch, sending a shower of snow to the ground below. Kurama gave a mighty snort, and his laughter started anew.

That's exactly what this was. It was a punishment.

He stood and walked along the tree's branch to its massive trunk, leaning his forehead against it. What the heck was he supposed to do now?

He needed ramen.

—

Iruka had just gotten home from the academy and shrugged his coat off when the door burst open and Naruto marched in.

"Naruto." His voice reflected frustration, and he shook his head. "We've talked about this. Knock." Naruto froze in place where he stood, looked around him, glanced back at the door, glanced down at his hands, and then blinked back up at Iruka as though the entire event had happened without his knowledge or consent.

"Right." He said, almost dazedly. "Can we go talk ramen?"

"Talk ramen?" Iruka asked. Naruto nodded absently, then he suddenly shook his head as though he were waking up from sleep-walking.

"I mean _get _ramen." He corrected himself. Iruka was already gathering his coat hurriedly, a bit of concern touching his features.

"So I gather you need to talk about something." He said as soon as they were outside in the cold air. Naruto blinked wide eyes at him.

"Hmm," he hummed, looking forward again as he walked. He kicked a piece of hardened, packed snow that had slid from the piles lining the road. "It's weird how you can always tell." Iruka didn't have the heart to remind him of his slipped wording just moments before. Naruto really did seem a bit out of it.

"So what's bothering you?" Iruka asked, his voice casual.

Naruto heaved a sigh so great that his shoulders raised and lowered in sync with it. He frowned, bottom lip pouted out in a way Iruka had not seen him do in years. He watched as Naruto opened his mouth once, twice, and snapped it shut both times. He was clearly struggling with how to word whatever was on his mind.

"Nothing." He finally said. Iruka nearly tripped on a chunk of hardened snow in the road.

"Well," he said, putting a patient smile on his face, "Nothing some ramen can't fix, right?" Naruto gave a shrug as his only response, both hands jammed into his pockets.

The two walked in relative quiet for the next few minutes before reaching Ichiraku. One man was finishing his ramen at the far stool, but otherwise the place was quiet in its down time.

They likewise sat without speaking to one another, only to greet Ayame and Teuchi and make their orders. It wasn't until the third guest had left and Naruto had started on his miso pork ramen that he tapped his chopsticks on the rim of the bowl and spoke.

"I was talkin' to Sakura-chan today, and things got really, I dunno. Weird." He said, mouth forming a pout. He swirled his chopsticks through the ramen, pushing a square of nori down into the broth and watching it soften.

"Hm? Weird how?" Iruka asked him after slurping down some of his own noodles.

"She _'found out'_ that I'm in love with Sasuke." He air-quoted the words with his fingers and gave a dramatic eye roll. He stabbed a piece of narutomaki and shoved it in his mouth, chewing a bit, then began talking before swallowing. "I was asking her about his girl teammate cuz I thought maybe he liked her, you know? His girl teammate I mean." Naruto thought the silence was conspicuous, so he looked up at Iruka. The moment he raised his eyes, it seemed like Ayame and Teuchi suddenly burst into motion from stillness, cleaning a bowl and scrubbing the stove. Iruka was blinking at him, his expression carefully blank.

"That... must have been embarrassing." He said with just a little bit of hesitation.

"Yeah!" Naruto agreed loudly, slamming his fist down on the counter so their bowls rattled. "Obviously," he added after an aside. "It stinks, y'know?"

"Yeah," Iruka agreed. His voice still seemed hesitant. "So... how do you think that will change things?" He asked.

"Well how am I supposed to confess _now?_ Now that... I mean, why'd it have to be _Sakura-chan_ of all people?" He groaned with frustration. Iruka was scrutinizing him closely when he glanced back up. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing, I just. I hadn't... realized who you were planning to confess to. When did you plan to, uhm, do that?"

"Well it's gotta be _after _Sasuke gets back, of course," Naruto said, giving a little snort through his nose. "But I hadn't really made any plans about when. And what if this changes things..." It didn't sound like a question so much as a resigned musing. He sighed again. Suddenly, his head snapped up and he spun on his stool, parting the flaps of the ramen stand with his hands. He zeroed in on someone just a few paces away, standing in the street. "Oy," he said, voice low and dangerous.

"Hello, Naruto." Sai said, stepping forward to close the small distance further. He didn't give his pleasant smile but instead had a small frown on his face, his brows furrowed. He tilted his head and opened his mouth as though to speak, but Naruto interrupted him.

"Nope! Go away! Not a conversation for you!" Naruto leapt from his seat and spun Sai around, pushing him by the shoulders. Sai's heels dug into the dirty snow of the street, but that only served to leave two long, winding grooves in his wake. When Naruto was satisfied he'd booted Sai far enough away, he gave him a disciplinarian's glare and sprinted back to his lunch. Sai was left standing confused, his frown deepening. After a moment, he departed, offering one last glance in Naruto's direction as he did.

"So..." Iruka started again, clearing his throat. He mixed his chopsticks through his ramen much the same way Naruto had been doing. Conversely, Naruto seemed to have much more of an appetite after shooing Sai away, his energy back. "So... What do you mean you can't confess now? Like, specifically." He said it without looking up. Naruto furrowed his brow mid-slurp and then finished the mouthful he was working on.

"Isn't it obvious?" He asked, offering Iruka a flat stare.

"Not really." Iruka shrugged but gave an encouraging smile.

"Well," Naruto started, looking down into his ramen again with an even deeper frown. He paused. Iruka seemed to be acting a little odd, now that he thought about it, and it seemed like Teuchi had been drying that same bowl with that same towel for quite some time. Naruto felt oddly nervous. Was he missing something? "I mean..." he started, hesitating. He sensed more than saw Teuchi and Ayame halt from their cleaning and lean inward. Iruka seemed rapt as well, awaiting his response. He looked up from his ramen bowl, and all three casually went back to what they were doing. He raised an eyebrow but continued with a frown. "I mean, If Sakura thinks I..." He made a face, shaking his head, "how am I supposed to confess to her?"

"Oh!" Iruka's hand clapped to the side of his head, and he laughed. "Oh, okay. Okay."

"What?" Naruto asked. He looked around himself, peeking under the flaps as though he'd missed some kind of audience. "Why are you three acting so _freaky?_"

"Hmm?" Teuchi asked innocently.

"What? Sorry Naruto-kun, we're just, ah, cleaning!" Ayame grinned at him pleasantly, making a show of scrubbing the stove with even more fervor. Naruto glanced between the three suspiciously, slowly dipping his chopsticks back into his ramen, his eyes narrowed. None of them met his gaze. It continued this way until he finished his bowl of ramen. Finally, Iruka spoke up again.

"So why do you have to wait until Sasuke's back?" He asked, frowning with curiosity.

For the first time in the conversation, a real sadness entered Naruto's expression. His eyes almost seemed to lose all life as he gazed down as his empty bowl. Iruka felt his heart clench in his chest.

"She's always loved Sasuke," he said dejectedly. "It's not fair to tell her when he's not even here."

"How do you figure?" Iruka kept his voice gentle, but he was honestly confused by the concept.

"She deserves to make her own choices." He answered, tracing the tiny puddle of broth left at the bottom of his bowl with his chopsticks.

"I'm sure she would whether or not Sasuke was here," Iruka told him with a slight tilt of his head. "You could just tell her and see what happens."

"No." Naruto's voice raised to say it with command. Iruka blinked with surprise. "If he's not even here—if she can't even choose him even if she wants to—then it's not fair. That's asking her to do something unfair to her own feelings." He said it so seriously and with so much authority that Iruka found himself holding his breath.

Naruto really was growing up.

"So in the meantime, how are you going to clarify... uh... the misunderstanding?" Iruka asked.

"Yeah," Naruto said distractedly. His eyes had darted up and to the side in thought. He had been keeping close tabs on Sakura's chakra as she moved back into the village—that's why he'd missed Sai earlier, even though he'd been _right there_—and it definitely seemed as though she were headed in this direction.

"Ah, uhm, I gotta go," he said, standing and dropping his money onto the counter. "Thanks!" He nodded at Teuchi and Ayame as he stood. Then he turned his focus back to Iruka, who was just finishing his ramen. "You're not allowed to say anything! I'll figure this out!" He told him with an accusatory point. Iruka frowned, his mouth full. Before he could retort, Naruto had zipped away over the rooftops.

"Well _bye_," Iruka muttered after swallowing. He paid for his meal and stepped out of the stand, only to run into Sakura. _Oh_.

She walked right past him, lifted the flap and saw the empty ramen bowls with money laid on the counter, and sighed through her nose as she turned to face him again.

It took everything Iruka had to follow Naruto's orders.

"Is he avoiding me?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh I doubt it. He might just be busy." Iruka gave her a helpless smile. Sakura's stare grew very impatient very quickly. Her mouth had formed a small frown.

"I'm not trying to get you to sell him out, Iruka-sensei. I just want to know if I should give him his time or not." She put her hands on her hips.

"Ah, probably," he admitted, scratching the back of his head. Sakura gave a satisfied nod and bowed a quick thank you. After taking a step, however, she turned back and gave him a gentle, motherly smile

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei," she told him, her eyes sparkling with mirth. Then she departed.

Iruka sighed out a massive breath and forced himself to turn toward home, to _not _call out to Sakura and tell her that Naruto loved her.

To not hunt Naruto down and beat it into his thick skull that that young lady was in love with him.

* * *

><p>Poor Naruto. He does not realize how believable it is that he could be in love with Sasuke. xD<p>

I think it's really important for characters to have their own coping mechanisms and support systems to feel real. Naruto and Sakura tend to rely on each other for a lot of that (although a lot of it is more implied or only shown once in a while), but when they _can't _rely on each other—I like to wonder who they rely on then. We saw a little of whom Sakura relies on in It'll Be Okay, and I just adored in Road to Ninja how Naruto's relationship with Iruka was expanded upon. I kind of wanted to touch upon that a little here, but then the story went in its own, slightly more silly direction. I'd still like to hit upon that a bit more in the future though. :)

Next chapter has a bit more of Sakura's side, and then ? (Literally, I haven't written/planned it yet so idk.)

Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention! I said I would only be POSTING Sundays, but then I realized that the real sacrifice would be posting and then not reading reviews. So yes, I did change my mind, but no, I am not cheating. xD Thank you all once again for your support!

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)<br>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)  
>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)<br>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)  
>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)<br>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)  
>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)<br>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)  
>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)<br>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	35. Confession, Part 3

I'm back! Here is the next installment. Ah, I can't wait to read reviews on Sunday. I'M SO EXCITED IT IS HURTING ME. AHHHH. I've been so good guys—I haven't looked at a _single one_. xD

So I'm participating in the Heaven and Earth fanwork contest—writing a NaruSaku fanfiction, of course. It's due at the end of January, and right now I have a vague idea of where I might go with it, but I'm not positive yet. But if I end up doing what I want to do, then I'm going to need some help! Send me ideas of cute/romantic little things Naruto might do for Sakura when trying to woo her. This could be stuff he might do before they are dating or after. Heck, the sky's the limit. Even if you give me an idea that _wouldn't _fit, it might help inspire an idea that _would_. So please, pleaseplease! Drop me some PMs or leave the ideas in reviews, however you want to do it. Gimme some good ol' NaruSaku romantic moment ideas! Thanks! :D

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><p>"Alright, spill." Ino took another sip of her coffee, placed it down on the bench next to her, and raised an eyebrow at Sakura.<p>

"Don't try to get psychoanalytical on me. Yes, I'm in a bad mood. No, I don't feel like talking," Sakura muttered back without so much as turning her head. The two were seated on a bench on the hospital grounds, watching birds cheerfully dance through the snow under a bird feeder. Sakura's break from her hospital shift had been spent listening patiently to Ino's every chattering word in silence.

"Pfft. You don't have to say anything. You've always been an open book." She paused, and Sakura could see her still staring in her periphery, but she dedicatedly ignored her blonde friend, instead focusing on the birds instead. "Lemme guess what's wrong," Ino continued. Sakura's frown deepened.

"You wouldn't guess in a million years." Her voice was deep and quiet, her expression an unamused pout.

"Hm," Ino made a show of thinking, tapping her chin. "You want to get in Naruto's pants," she started, making Sakura's cheeks flush. Before she could protest indignantly, Ino finished quickly: "But you found out he's gay for Sasuke." Sakura jerked back in shock so that she was facing Ino with a wide-eyed stare.

"_What?_" She demanded, her voice appalled. "You—" She snapped her mouth shut before continuing, her face incredulous. Ino was wearing a wicked smirk all the while.

"I may have heard through the grapevine that _someone _at Ichiraku's was complaining to Iruka-sensei that _someone else_ found out he's in love with Sasuke." Now all remnants of her cocksure smile were gone, and she looked moderately sympathetic. "Honestly thought he had a thing for _you_, if you wanna be frank. But this was definitely always a possibility."

Sakura gulped, then finally was able to blink and break free of her frozen state. "Who—I mean—do a lot of people know?" He'd been so embarrassed, and now Ino knew? _Of all people..._

"Sai told me," she shrugged. "He was acting a little different last night so I wrenched it out of him. I'd call it disappointment, but it's hard to really name any of his emotions." She blew her bangs out of her face with an irritated look. "Turns out he was _positive_ Naruto was in love with you." Sakura felt her cheeks heat up again.

"I know." She rubbed her nose with her gloved hand. "I mean I knew he _thought_ that, but I'm surprised he still did. I found out that was wrong a long time ago." The bitterness in her own voice surprised her, and so did the way her throat ached as she said it. "You've been spending a lot of time with Sai lately," she offered in a haphazard attempt to change the subject, raising an eyebrow at Ino.

"Don't redirect the subject, Forehead." Ino quipped. Sakura gave a little snort. The blonde stared at the birds in silence, leaving the conversation on pause for some moments. "We're dating." She said finally.

"_What?_" Sakura spat. She blinked at her long-time friend, watching the way Ino had rested her chin on folded hands and was hunched forward. She didn't look at Sakura. "What is that even _like?_" Sakura wrinkled her nose. Ino finally looked up at her, a bit of aggravation coloring her features.

"Shut up. It's... eh. I think I spend more time complaining about him to Chouji than I spend _with _him." She gave a frustrated sigh. "You know he really friggin' loves you guys, right? All he does is talk about you two or his dumb books. I'm starting to really get sick of _both_ topics." Sakura was still getting over her shock, but a crooked smile slid onto her features. Despite all his flaws, Sai had really grown onto her. "In any case, how'd you react?"

"Huh?" Sakura had hoped she wouldn't go back to the Naruto topic, but knowing Ino...

"About him wanting to nail Sasuke?" She smirked and waggled her eyebrows. Sakura felt her face reheat yet again.

"It's not funny, Ino. He was really embarrassed. You better not tell anyone." She muttered, but there was so little energy in it. She had so little energy for this topic. It was sucking the life out of her for some reason. Maybe the whole losing-all-chances-of-ever-being-with-the-only-guy-she-had-ever-thought-she-could-spend-the-rest-of-her-life-with was what did it. Maybe.

"Oh come off it. I didn't tell anyone. Except Chouji. And you. And maybe Tenten." The glare Sakura gave made Ino laugh, her loud voice spooking some of the birds. They fluttered up into a nearby tree.

"You did _not_," Sakura growled. Tenten was almost as bad as Ino sometimes.

"I said _maybe._ I was thinking about it. But I won't, promise. So? How'd you react? Don't skirt the question, Forehead." It was Sakura's turn to sigh.

"I told him I'd support him. What else would I do?" She sounded tired, resigned. Ino nodded.

"You know, as much as I want to be surprised at this, I'm more surprised that we're only just now figuring this out. In retrospect... it's kind of obvious."

"I _know_." Sakura lamented, feeling that bitterness in her voice again. "I'm such an idiot, Ino-Pig..." She wanted dango right now. Badly. Like, a _lot _of dango.

"Nah, I mean the guy's been fawning over your giant forehead since we were little, right? When he wasn't kissing Sasuke, I mean." Sakura's eyes widened. She had _completely_ forgotten about that event back at the academy. The image of a young Naruto and Sasuke locking lips invaded her mind, making her face redden further.

"Uhgghh," she groaned, pressing her face into her hands. How had she not _noticed_? "I thought I was his _friend_." She whined, her voice muffled by her gloves. Ino didn't respond, which was curious. This was the perfect time for some girlfriend pat on the back. Sakura glanced up from her cupped hands, her expression irritated and demanding. Ino was staring forward, a look of deep thought on her face. She blinked rapidly, then turned to stare at Sakura.

"So... why _is _he always hitting on you, then? And you guys go on dates _all the time_." Sakura felt another wave of embarrassment.

"_He's_ the one who calls them dates," she muttered. Then her expression flashed into a reflection of Ino's curious one.

"Oh my gosh," Ino said, wrinkling her nose. "You know what this _means?_" Sakura swallowed. Could it be that maybe, just _maybe_... "He's been using you as a straight cover! Ugh!" She smacked a fist into her open palm, her tone accusatory. "That little _shit!_"

"Ino." Sakura deadpanned, her glimmer of hope instantly warping into irritation. "Naruto is not like that."

"No, no, _listen_. It's not like he'd mean it. Like, denial, you know? He's such a macho idiot that he'd never paddle up _that _river without a fight. I bet you a mil he's been in denial for _years_." She gestured animatedly, seeming much more excited than scandalized now. Sakura felt her anger rising. If this ended up in some psychological case study scroll...

"This is ridiculous. Where would you even get that idea?" Sakura asked, rolling her eyes. Her break wouldn't be over for another ten minutes, but she was debating whether cutting it short would be a good idea.

"Uh? Do I not recall you nearly choking to death on dango when Hinata ran over, bowed, and said she respected that you were Naruto's girlfriend and then promised to never interfere?" Sakura's fists clenched the fabric of her jacket. Her heart ached at the memory—not of Hinata, but what she'd been referring to at the time. It had made Sakura feel _so_ confident about it all. It was the first time since her confession to Naruto that she'd believed she had a chance. She'd been waiting nearly a year for Naruto to reaffirm what he'd told the Yondaime Hokage during the war.

But nothing had ever come of it.

"He was probably just joking," she said in a quiet, dejected voice.

"That's not what you explained last time. You told me he said it to _his father_. I thought you were his friend, too. Geez, Forehead, either the guy was into you then or he _thought_ he was into you then—there's no way he was just joking." Ino put a hand on Sakura's shoulder and gave her a little shake of encouragement. Sakura sighed. She didn't want to talk about this anymore... but she _did_.

"I love him," she admitted quietly, feeling her eyes prickle with tears. "It's so stupid. I'm so stupid. But I don't know if I can stop loving him." She must have looked hopeless when she glanced at her long time best friend because the sympathy and hurt on Ino's face was intense.

"Don't give up, Forehead," she said gently, rubbing a circle on Sakura's shoulder. "Sasuke's a jerk, and who knows if he's even, you know, into that. Maybe you can convert him." She paused, then looked up thoughtfully at the snow-covered trees. "If anyone could do it, it'd definitely be me, but you probably could too."

"Huh?" Sakura asked, blinking her moist eyes rapidly. She felt like she'd missed part of that conversation with Ino's odd jargon.

"You know, make Naruto straight. I'm the sexy one, but you're more like Amiko-san, the bookish librarian lady who gets really sultry behind closed doors." Sakura's expression was a poetic mixture of disgust and confusion.

"What? Just_—what?"_ She demanded, shaking her head.

"I've been reading this series of romance novels," Ino confessed, her smile warping into something quite wicked again. Her eyes were hauntingly _ready_ in some fierce, inappropriate way. "You should read them, they're _so _good." Sakura resisted the urge to slap her own forehead.

"You're hopeless, Ino-Pig," She spat, but she had to admit that it had made her smile. "No one else could possibly want to read that kind of trash," _except maybe Kakashi-sensei_, her mind added silently, although she'd never dare give Ino _that _idea.

"Hah! Tell that to Chouj'. He and I trade them all the time. Well, he goes for the sob stories, but those are good too. Aahhh, seriously, Sakura. I know a few you'd love." Ino said encouragingly. "And a few others you _need_," she winked here and waggled her eyebrows.

Sakura ignored her warm cheeks and redirected the topic away from herself. "Chouji? No way," she muttered, a small, amused smile on her face. "And last I checked, you were sick of all the reading Ibiki was making you do." She offered a flat stare now, eyebrow raised.

Ino shrugged, "I got used to it. Plus, this isn't the same kind of reading at all, trust me." She rubbed her hands together and snickered. The gesture reminded Sakura altogether of something Naruto would do.

And just like that, the ache returned to her chest.

"Well, break's over. I'll see you later." She stood, gave a half-hearted wave to Ino without looking behind her, and headed back into the building.

"It'll be okay!" Ino called back after her. Sakura wasn't so sure about that. Not right now.

—

It was already dark by the time Sakura's shift ended. She dragged herself home and immediately headed downstairs to the baths. She still had a lot of thinking to do.

Sakura slid down into the bath and rested her chin on her knees. She'd spent the rest of her evening reflecting upon this new revelation. Ino had a point. Everything _didn't _fit.

Why all the dates? Why had he called her his girlfriend to Yondaime-sama—to _his father_? She'd turned her heart off during the war, so the moment had passed. She'd watched him hold Hinata's hand without a scrap of jealousy and had allowed herself to feel nothing at Sasuke's return.

It wasn't until Naruto...

Died.

She closed her eyes and slid further down in the tub so the water covered her ears and the sounds of the evening smudged into a comforting hum. When he'd died and she'd given everything to make sure he'd breath again, the wall around her heart collapsed with a world-shattering rumble. And then _everything _had affected her. The slightest dig from Sasuke crumpled her. The slightest consolation from Naruto elated her.

And so it hadn't been until later that she thought back and it really sank in. _He'd called her his girlfriend_.

She raised back up from the water and breathed deeply, straining her lungs.

And then there had been those moments after the war. Everyone working together to rebuild, seeing Sasuke off, sitting down for ramen more often than she minded but not often enough to stop making her heart thud with anticipation. Through it all, she had patiently hoped that he would explain. That he would pursue it further. That he would do _anything_.

But he never had.

Sakura stepped out of the nearly scalding water and toweled herself dry. Maybe that was her bad call. Should she have said something to him? "_Like what? Confess again?_" She shook her nagging mental voice away, but self-consciousness was closing in from the edges of her mind. The last time she'd confessed, it'd gone so poorly. And that had been her own fault.

She sighed, moped, and lamented on the entire walk back up to her apartment. Still in her robe, she keyed into her door and immediately crossed the room to sit on her window sill. The icy air was blessedly refreshing after sitting in such a hot bath. She sighed again.

She'd been pondering so hard, but now she could only think one thing: none of it mattered in the end anyway.

Sometimes, Sakura really hated herself.

Sitting on her window sill, wondering what she could have done differently to "change" her best friend—not just appreciating the wonderful, loving, sweet person he was and their beautiful friendship—she hated herself.

She banged her head softly back against the window frame and sunk down so that she hugged her knees, feeling tears seep out of her eyes. She had tried to ignore it, but the notion on repeat in her mind demanded her attention finally. She couldn't stop thinking that she'd lost him.

But what hurt the most was that painful epiphany: he'd never been hers to begin with.

* * *

><p>I BET Y'ALL FELT SORRY FOR SAI LAST CHAPTER, DIDN'T YOU? WELL THAT LIL SHIT RAN AND TOLD INO, SO <em>DON'T<em>. ok maybe she manipulated it out of him, but the point still stands!

Also, sorry for another inconclusive chapter end. I am like... 85% sure that the next chapter will end this arc, but knowing me... ;-; ANYWAY, I sort of set up this arc to read as a NaruSaku chapter, then a Naru chapter, now a Saku chapter, and finally another NaruSaku chapter to sum it all up.

I really wanted to show that these two both have good support systems (even though they certainly have more than just Iruka and Ino), BUT that they both really rely on one another for happiness more than anything.

Also in these chapters: Naruto and Sakura are both stress eaters, even if Sakura manages to avoid it more, being a little more diet conscious.

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)<br>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)  
>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)<br>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)  
>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)<br>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)  
>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)<br>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)  
>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)<br>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


	36. Confession, Part 4

WELL HELLO THERE FRIENDS. First of all, thank you so much for your reviews. Honestly, I don't know how motivated I'd be to continue on with this story if it weren't for the continued interest from YOU guys. It makes me feel so good knowing that people are enjoying my weird headcanons (ones that would otherwise never see the light of day xD). You guys are amazing, and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your kind and clever words. If I haven't responded to your review—don't worry, I'll get there Sunday! :D

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! I enjoyed writing this so much it's insane. xD

I want to offer a special thanks to my two buddies **FaithfulWhispers **and **Turmanarmo**—both wonderful authors themselves—for helping me edit this chapter up a bit. They both offered rewording, clarification, and characterization tips, as well as ideas. Thanks so much you two!

* * *

><p>Naruto had started and completed his latest mission by noon. Focusing all of his attention and energy into such a fun little distraction had been great while it'd lasted. He'd saved the hostage, dumped her unceremoniously into her father's awaiting arms, and bagged the problem nin for the village to deal with—all while keeping his mind off Sakura. Now that he'd reported back in to Kakashi—who blinked with surprise at how quickly it'd been resolved—he was back to square one.<p>

Waiting impatiently for Sakura's next break. Or maybe the one after that. Despite his impatience, he was doing a great job of putting this off.

He'd decided to tell her the night before, but then he'd gotten very busy with polishing his kunai. This morning, he thought about telling her before she went to work—she was up absurdly early for her double shift—but then he realized that it might make him late for reporting to Kakashi-sensei for a mission. Now he adamantly refused to make any more excuses.

He didn't have a problem with the idea of telling Sakura that he wasn't interested in Sasuke like _that_. It was bound to be awkward—horribly, _horribly_ awkward—but he was more than happy to do it. The problem arose whenever he thought about what to actually say. There were three perfect words that wanted to burst from his mouth at any given moment lately, and the pressure was increasingly unbearable. Now that he had to talk to Sakura about whom he _didn't _love, it only felt natural to tell her whom he _did_. Except... it wasn't the right time yet. That aside, he knew it was already far past the right time to clarify that he was not, in fact, in love with that idiot teme. And that was exactly why he had finally set off toward the hospital, his pace quick. Nothing would stop him this ti—

"Naruto-kun! Hello!" Lee's voice rang out in the crisp, winter air. He jogged up to Naruto, glistening with sweat, and clapped a hand onto his shoulder. "Shall we spar on this wonderfully brisk, youthful day?"

"Y'okay." Naruto agreed without the slightest hint of hesitation, and they set off to the nearest training ground.

Yes, when his friends needed him, Naruto would always be there. It had nothing to do with putting off the most uncomfortable conversation of his life. Nothing at all.

—

Sakura set out late that morning. She was glad to have today off after that long, long double shift the day before. It was cold again, though not as biting as it'd been on her last excursion here. The snow was dry and crunched loudly under her feet. A thick blanket of gray clouds blocked out the sun, but it wasn't an unpleasant view. They were soft and cheerful—snow clouds. Maybe Naruto would get his snowfall today after all.

She smiled at the thought, but the warm feeling was quickly replaced by the dread that had become her new, persistent companion. Getting up this morning, she had caught herself musing hopefully over how all of this might just be some kind of misunderstanding. It made her realize that it hadn't _truly _set in yet. As she headed toward their usual meeting point, she could only see it as the last mile toward the final confirmation: that Naruto did not, _would not_ love her romantically. Ever.

Sakura crested the hill while staring carefully at the ground, her boots crunching to fit into her own, two-day-old footprints.

She looked up. "Sakura-chan!" His cheerful voice would have called. If he'd been there. Instead, an empty white landscape greeted her, still and frozen and silent.

A shuddering breath shook through her, and she almost turned around. Winter rendezvous in the snow, long walks with just each other for company, spending time together just to _be _together. She'd built herself up to this letdown, hadn't she? She'd placed every brick and sealed the mortar herself. Naruto wasn't guiltless, but Sakura should have known better. Especially since it wasn't the first time she'd done it.

No, she wouldn't give up on him. She had caused this mess, and she would not run away from it, even if he did. It had been her taciturn promise—she would not run away from him. Even if it broke her heart.

Her throat was tight with emotion as she sighed bitterly. If he weren't here already, he wouldn't come. She was pretty sure of that.

But even so, she waited.

She waited for him to come, waited for them to talk, waited to ensure that he would know, at least this one time—even if it were the last chance she ever got—that she hadn't meant to change any of their friendship. That it didn't have to change at all. That she shouldn't have asked and she would never judge.

She waited.

—

Naruto blinked blearily and sat up, tasting the dry fuzziness of his mouth and scratching under his arm. He sniffed, stretched, yawned, and smiled goofily at the large, softly falling snowflakes outside his window. He'd _told _Sakura it would snow.

_Sakura!_

Shooting out of bed, he collapsed when his thoroughly asleep left leg gave out on him. He _still_ hadn't told her—and today was a walk day! The last time he'd been late, she'd marched up to his apartment and awakened him by nearly giving him a concussion, which had mildly defeated the purpose of coming for him at all. But then she'd healed him... Naruto's goofy smile returned. But he was late again! He stumbled up and was shaking the sleep away from his brain, reaching out to sense the world around him. His village, his people, the tiny prickles of warm lives surrounding him: Sakura wasn't home, Shikamaru was at the Hokage Tower with Gaara's sister, the Hyuugas were in some strange ceremonial formation again, Lee was altogether too chipper this early, and _there she was!_

At their meeting point.

Alone.

Naruto had never gotten dressed so quickly in his life.

—

He was still blinking the sleep out of his eyes when he came to a skidding, sidelong landing on one foot, leaving a long gouge in the snow-covered ground. The bijuu chakra dissipated from around him in a sweeping rush of yellow heat, leaving his disheveled state open to the air. But he didn't notice himself in the least. His eyes were wide, trained onto Sakura.

She was standing in place hugging herself, her cheeks and nose red and raw. Her shoulders and hair were dusted with a layer of snow that suggested _much-too-long_. Then she smiled, her whole face lighting up so beautifully that his heart thudded against his ribcage and he almost forgot he'd left her standing in the snow for hours. Almost.

"Sakura-chan," he said, eyebrows knitting with worry. Her smile shrank into something more muted almost immediately, though it was far from belligerent—she looked quite amused, actually.

"Pft, look at you," she said wryly, stepping forward. She reached up as though to smooth down his cowlicked hair, but then she hesitated and brought her hands back down to her sides. "You're a mess," she said, "you must have just gotten out of bed, huh?" For some very strange reason, he thought she sounded relieved. But that wasn't something Sakura would feel about him being late, so he knew he was wrong.

"I'm sorry, dattebayo! I messed up again!" He reached up and matted his hair down the way she almost had. The way she _maybe _almost had. She shook her head, shrugged a _don't-worry-about-it_, and then started forward past the wake of now-bald trees he'd left. They walked in silence for a short while, watching the thick, heavy snowflakes fall densely. The two sets of earlier footprints were now smoothed over in a renewed blanket of pristine white.

"Did you seriously _fly_ here in your Six Paths mode?" She finally spoke, asking the question rhetorically, but it came as a surprise to him.

"Oh. I did?" He glanced back. Sakura was making him _really_ edgy lately. And on that topic... He took a deep breath. "Uhhh by the way Sakura-chan," he started, steeling himself. "I'm not, ah... I don't... it's not like _that_ with Sasuke. That's weird." Sakura froze in her tracks, rigid. He'd been expecting it this time and had stopped first, so that this time _she_ had to turn and look back at him. She looked...

Hurt.

"Don't lie to me." She sounded hurt, too. It was definitely his least favorite Sakura-chan emotion. He felt his mouth slide open helplessly.

"But I'm not—"

"Stop." She closed her eyes and jammed her hands into her pockets, head down. "We're friends, Naruto. _Best_ friends. And I don't care—I don't _mind_. I don't really know why you're so embarrassed, but I don't mind that either. I just want you to know," she gave a little huff and paused, her head still down.

"Sakura-chan, I swear it's not—" His tone was nothing but pleading now, but she was having none of it.

"Naruto, _stop_." She demanded. His gaze rose skyward imploringly—to whatever deity might help. He hadn't expected her to call him a liar. How the heck was he supposed to convince her? Now he _really_ plead to that deity—because he had the perfect solution, but _it wasn't time yet_. "Listen," she continued, her voice steeling even more. "I don't like that you're so worried and I _definitely_ don't like that you're trying to worry all alone. That's not my Naruto, and like hell I'm going to let you be such a baby all by yourself." Now she looked up, expression fierce.

Naruto's mouth was slightly agape again, his mind whirling through about ten thousand things he should be saying right now, or perhaps doing. At this point, shaking her seemed like it might be a good option, but only if he was no longer fond of having intact bones.

She continued, her eyes piercing into his. "So just _listen_. There's honestly only one time that Sasuke _ever_ showed interest in me, and it's pretty much the whole reason I was interested in him for as long as I was—at least after we formed Team 7."

Ten thousand things disappeared from his mind. Naruto _listened_.

The ferocity of her gaze softened, and she looked a little embarrassed as she continued. "He told me that he liked my big forehead, and—" she blinked rapidly, "it was the one stupid thing I always wanted someone to tell me, especially my _special_ someone. And _then _do you know what he did?" _He asked about me._ "He asked me about _you_." Naruto was hesitant to even breathe; the air sliding through his parted lips was more gentle and quiet than a feather's brush. Sakura's determination was back for a moment as she frowned up at him. "We never even—" She halted mid-sentence and glanced away, and all he could imagine was the moment she hadn't _quite _kissed 'Sasuke' that day. He swallowed, trying not to imagine her soft lips pressing against his. That was a miserable failure.

Sakura shook her head and huffed, and his full attention was back on her when she resumed speaking. "He's changed since then. A lot. And like I said, it was just that one time he ever said _anything_, and right after that he came back and called me annoying. You want to know why?" Naruto's eyes had grown wide, "he called me annoying for being insensitive about _you_." She poked him in the chest, her brows furrowed and eyes filled with earnesty. "He's _always_ cared about your feelings. I can't say he's done the same for me, which is why I finally came to my senses and saw he'd changed too much for me to really love him, not like _that_ at least. But if all you have to worry about is some girl—who he didn't seem all that close with _anyway_, if you ask me—then..." Sakura's voice was continuing. He knew she was still talking. Her mouth was moving.

But he stopped hearing it.

Snowflakes were floating down in slow, gentle patterns. She looked so beautiful framed in white, with a halo of soft snow dusting her pink hair.

She didn't love Sasuke anymore.

"I love you." His voice came out as a quiet breath, and Sakura continued for a second before she paused.

"What?" She asked, uncertainty coloring her features. "What did you say?"

"I love you." He said it louder this time, gazing into those jade green eyes. A great weight was lifting from him. "I love you." He watched her expression slide into shock, her lips parting in stunned silence. "I love you. I love you." His voice increased in meaning and passion and volume all at once until he thought he might start shouting it, but the heartbeat thudding against his eardrums still seemed louder somehow.

Her mouth opened a little wider once, then a second time, but she didn't say a word. A stray snowflake landed on her eyelashes. She blinked it away.

Naruto's lips curled into a smile, and he gave a quiet laugh—it almost sounded like a sob, it was so guttural and filled with relief. "Sakura-chan," he said, finally moving from his rigid state, but only to clench his fists at his sides. "Sakura-chan, I love you!" He laughed and raised a hand to run it through his hair, almost feeling lightheaded.

Her voice was so quiet it was nearly impossible to hear, but he heard it anyway. "But..." She shook her head fractionally, a ghost of a movement. She looked so very _unsure_.

He shook his head with a smile, willing that she understand. "I've always loved you, Sakura-chan." The words were so earnest and filled with life that they were almost tangible things that he wanted to snatch from the air and press into her hands for safekeeping. "Always. It was always, _always_ you." He reached forward then, dipping a little to take her small, gloved hand in his bare ones. It felt so soft, warmly nestled in his large hands, and it just seemed to _fit _there; a missing piece.

Then, with a slow, gentle motion, she pulled her hand free.

—

Sakura was numb. It wasn't the numbness of her cold toes and fingertips but a thick canvas dulling her heart and mind.

"I don't understand," she breathed, shaking her head again.

"I love you," he shook his head too, his eyes filled with sincerity. "I just do. I always have. I love you." He paused. She could feel his close scrutiny—_knew_ it was there—but she was too numb to really see or think or do anything right now.

"But at the Land of Iron..." Her own voice reached her ears distant and dazed, and it surprised her that she'd even spoken at all.

"I thought you loved Sasuke!" He said it loudly, like it was a cry of triumph. A grin had grown wide across his face.

"I did." She breathed, blinking up at him. Then she exhaled a sharp, quiet sigh of shock, shaking the haze away from herself more and more. All this time. All this time—because of Sasuke? Because of _her_? "I'm..." her eyebrows knitted with sadness. "I'm sorry."

His smile fell away. It was like watching a death.

Her heartbeat was already overwhelmingly loud in her ears. It sped up when licks of yellow chakra flashed to life around his form, a warm wind suddenly sweeping around the two. His clothing shifted in the breeze. He tensed, his knees bending. It was all happening so quickly that she knew he'd be gone before she could even think to stop him.

"Don't—" She frowned, anger spiking through her. He was running _again_. Without so much as a second thought, Sakura's hand darted forward and she clutched at his sleeve, pulling him forward by the wrist so that he stumbled down toward her. Her fist collided with the side of his head in a right hook. "Don't run away!" She shouted angrily. Naruto gaped at her owlishly, rubbing the spot on his head. His yellow chakra evaporated with a ghostlike flare. "Listen... Naruto, I—"

"It's okay." He spoke quickly, voice hushed with pain. His averted gaze looked so hurt, and his mouth was set in a pout. "You don't have to say it. It's okay."

"No. You—no, _us_. We're idiots. We're both idiots." He looked up, quite puzzled, and she swallowed. "I love you." Her own lips curled into that same relieved smile, and she suddenly knew how he felt.

He stared at her, dumbfounded.

"I don't understand." He said, voice quiet. She knew _exactly_ how he felt.

"I love you. I'm _in _love with you. I just—I want to be _with_ you. _Always_. I don't want to say goodbye or—" She swallowed again, feeling her eyes prickle with tears as the roiling emotions caught up with her. "I love you so much it hurts." Her last words muffled into his jacket when he moved forward and wrapped his arms around her so completely that she was altogether enveloped in the warmth and smell and feel of _Naruto_. She sighed out a sob of a breath, then raised her arms and slid them around him in return.

Sakura closed her eyes and felt the churning, unsure world settle into something finally and blessedly _right_.

She didn't know how long they stood in silence, holding one another tightly. She didn't know how many deep, amazed breaths she took, and she didn't know how much snow was already beginning to bury their footprints. She didn't know how many times his heart beat, even though her ear was pressed against his chest and she was mesmerized by the sound—one that had become familiar to her only in her most reassuring dreams. She didn't know, and she didn't care.

If it meant being able to stay here, to be like this, she could happily ignore everything else.

But like all moments, it had to pass.

The sensation of feeling his arms shift and then slide away from her was uncomfortable on some deep, inherent level—as though she were shedding a piece of herself that was never meant to go. Her fingertips dragged softly at his jacket as he pulled free, and she felt his hands on her shoulders, pushing her away from him, just like—

But there was nothing accusing or angry in his eyes this time. His entire expression was filled with wonder, and those clear blue eyes were both hoping and worrying in a perfect reflection of her own heart.

They wordlessly asked each other the same question: _Is this real?_

It felt as though the bubble would burst at any second. With a tiny pop, she would wake up in bed and realize it had started and ended purely in her mind.

This was why she hadn't wanted to let go at all.

"Sakura-chan," he breathed a disbelieving laugh—it almost sounded like a sob—and his mouth had grown into an excited smile. "Marry me."

Sakura froze, her eyes wide with shock. "What?" It was the only word that came to her in that stunned instant.

"I want you to ma—"

Her fist collided with his head for the second time that day, laying him out in the snow.

"Are you an _idiot_?" She shrieked, pointing a gloved finger at him accusingly. "You can't—it's been like ten minutes! We've never even kissed!" Naruto leapt up so quickly she nearly missed the movement—but suddenly she was in his arms again, and this time their eyes were locked, wide, and so very close. Then he squeezed his eyelids shut and quickly pressed his warm lips against hers.

It was like something electric buzzed through her, melting away her strength. Her eyes slid shut, and all that was left of the world disappeared. Everything was the warm touch of her lips to his. Sakura felt her blood pressure dropping and her knees weakening.

Their lips parted and her eyes fluttered open to meet his. Blue more clear and vivid than any crystal, any ocean. He straightened to his full height, and her head tilted back to follow his gaze, mesmerized. If his arms weren't embracing her, she might have slid to the snowy ground.

"How about now?" He asked, his expression serious and earnest and incredibly inviting. _Yes_, she thought. _Whatever it is, yes_. Wait—_NO_. But _yes_.

If she spoke now, she was certain she'd say something stupid, so she raised on her toes to kiss him again. This time, she parted her lips and _tasted_ him. The tight grip of his arms slackened.

"Is that a yes?" he breathed when they parted once again, his voice somewhat dazed.

"No," she said softly.

"No?" His eyes widened, voice choked. Sakura's eyebrows quirked downward.

"No, I mean—augh. You can't just—You're _insane_." She shook her head, frowning.

"I am not! I love you. I always loved you, and I'm gonna love you forever, so why not?" She couldn't imagine how red her face had already been, but somehow her cheeks felt even warmer at his words.

"I really shouldn't have to explain something like this to you." She said. He gave a little snort through his nose, and the way it rustled her bangs made her extremely conscious of how close they were. They were still pressed warmly against one another, but it wasn't too close to be comfortable. It was almost too _far_ now that his face was way up there again. He was frowning down at her, but there was too much joy in his eyes to make the frown meaningful.

"But it's not a no." He stated it with a firm nod, and his smile eased back into place. She rolled her eyes, but her mouth was quirking into a wry smile as well.

"It's not a no," she agreed, leaning her head against his chest. He dipped his chin so that it rested on her hair.

"Good," he murmured.

* * *

><p>Aaaahhhhhh this chapter made me so giddy to write. Sorry it took so long—but I'm REALLY hoping that you guys noticed it's significantly longer than the others. In fact, it even beats out the final part to "It'll Be Okay" which was formerly my longest. Despite the fact that I made it a longer chapter, my buddy Turmanarmo STILL called it when he stated that I'd probably end up with another chapter. Yup. I'm continuing this plot just a bit longer—I have too much to wrap up to end it here! xD Please let me know what you think! Thanks again for your continued interest and love! :)<p>

**Chronological Arc/Chapter List:**  
>Confession: Chapters 33-37 (NaruSaku ages 18-19)<strong> * You Are Here<strong>  
>Let's Wait: Chapters 5-6 (NaruSaku ages 20-21)<br>Stealing First: Chapter 1 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)  
>The Uzusagis: Chapters 3-4 (Narusaku ages 21-40)<br>It'll Be Okay: Chapters 18-24 (NaruSaku ages 21-22)  
>The Godfathers: Chapters 13-14 (NaruSaku ages 22-23)<br>Momma's Boy: Chapter 27 (NaruSaku ages 24-25)  
>The Day Kakashi Tried: Chapter 2 (NaruSaku ages 25-26)<br>Kakashi Tries Again: Chapter 16 (NaruSaku ages 29-42)  
>A Tiny Crush: Chapter 25 (NaruSaku ages 33-35)<br>That Jutsu, Part 1: Chapter 8 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Bedtime Routine: Chapter 7 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)<br>That Jutsu, Part 2: Chapter 9 (NaruSaku ages 37-38)  
>Every Family Has One: Chapters 10-12 &amp; 17 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)<br>A Terrible Dream: Chapter 32 (NaruSaku ages 38-39)  
>A Not-So-Tiny Crush: Chapters 26, 28, 30-31 (NaruSaku ages 42-44)<br>Teenage Girls: Chapter 15 (NaruSaku ages 44-45)


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